Meta’s Partner in China Placed Thousands of Ads for Nudify Apps, Report Says
One of Meta’s advertising partners in China has been linked to thousands of Facebook and Instagram ads promoting “nudify” apps.
The Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit that investigates major technology companies, reports that GatherOne placed ads promoting apps that can digitally undress women by showing sexually suggestive images. Some of these apps reportedly contained child sex abuse material (CSAM).
GatherOne is one of Meta’s key business partners in China that is authorized to place ads on behalf of Chinese clients. Since Facebook and Instagram are both banned in China, Chinese firms must use an agency like GatherOne if they want to advertise to foreign customers.
But by using Meta’s own transparency database, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) found that GatherOne was behind thousands of ads related to nudity and sexual content — ads that violate Meta policies.
The TTP says that during the course of its investigation, Meta removed many of the ads and disabled some of the fake accounts behind them. However, it did not outright ban GatherOne, and this, TTP speculates, is likely because GatherOne generates a huge amount of business for Meta — over 30,000 ads per month.
“TTP’s findings suggest that Meta is tolerating policy violations by one of its principal partners in the lucrative Chinese market,” the D.C.-based nonprofit writes. “The findings also highlight Meta’s role in the spread of nudify apps that can be used to create nonconsensual sexualized images, contributing to exploitation and psychological harm.”
In a statement to Bloomberg, Meta’s Head of Women’s Safety Policy, Cindy Southworth, says, “We do not allow nonconsensual intimate imagery or nudify apps on our platform and we take aggressive steps to combat them.”
Despite its services being banned there, China is one of Meta’s most important markets because of the system that still allows Chinese businesses to advertise on Facebook and Instagram. TTP reports that Meta’s China revenue was $18.35 billion in 2024 — roughly $3 billion of that was from “ads for scams, illegal gambling, pornography, and other banned content.”
“Meta appears to be giving a free pass to one of its top Chinese advertising partners when it comes to nudify ads,” adds TTP director Katie Paul.
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