Tech startups are running sexually explicit ads for apps promoting not-safe-for-work experiences on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
These ads feature digitally created potential 'girlfriends' with large breasts and tight clothing, and some even use popular children's TV characters to promote 'NSFW pics' apps.
NBC News found 35 app developers running sexually explicit ads on Meta-owned apps, and 14 app developers running similar ads on TikTok.
The marketing push is part of an AI gold rush, capitalizing on the surge of interest in AI and benefiting from a double standard that hurts real human sex workers.
Researchers believe that the gender-based slant in these ads reflects social media platforms allowing sex-related ads only if the intended audience is men.
Meta and TikTok have stepped up their removal of sexually explicit AI ads after NBC News contacted them, but questions remain about how the ads got through their filters in the first place.
Similar ads also appear in the Apple and Google app stores, although the extent of advertising there is unknown.
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