How did several thousand ads featuring excerpts from particularly explicit pornographic films end up on mainstream social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, where sexual content is strictly forbidden? This is the question posed by the non-profit organization AI Forensics, in a report published on Wednesday, January 8.

It reveals that over the past year or more, over 3,000 pornographic images or videos, sponsored to promote erectile dysfunction products or dating apps, have escaped the moderation of the Meta group. According to AI Forensics, these ads generated over eight million "impressions" in Europe, mainly among men in their 40s living in Germany and France.

By scouring the Meta ad library, in which content promoted on Facebook and Instagram is publicly listed, AI Forensics and Le Monde found that these ads broke Meta's rules. Some of them, whether in the form of still images or videos, can be found using simple queries such as "long penis," "weak erection" or "pornhub."

In addition to breaking the company's rules, most of these ads are blatantly illegal in France. Some of the videos feature deepfakes of local celebrities, such as actor Vincent Cassel, high-profile doctor Michel Cymes and sexologist and columnist Gilbert Bou Jaoudé. Their faces and voices are hijacked to promote the benefits of the products on offer (mainly sweets supposed to help men boost their libido or increase the size of their penis).

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