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A new deepfake app that allows users to swap the face of any person in any video with the face of another person is being criticized for an ad campaign it recently ran on Facebook and Instagram. According to NBC News, the company ran hundreds of ads featuring the likenesses of Harry Potter star Emma Watson and Marvel actress Scarlett Johansson.
The deepfake videos are sexually suggestive and even include audio associated with the pornographic website PornHub. For example, one of the ads starts off showing a video of a woman wearing a white dress and looking suggestively into the camera. Then her face changes to that of Watson.
NBC News reviewed the ad inventory of Facebook's parent company Meta and found that the company bought 127 ads with Watson's likeness and another 74 using Johansson's face.
Neither actress has commented on the ad campaign, which has since been pulled.
"Our policies prohibit adult content regardless of whether it is generated by AI or not, and we have restricted this Page from advertising on our platform," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.
While the app's terms of service say users cannot use the app to impersonate others or upload sexually explicit content, the advertisements seem to market the app to do just that.
The app is not free to use and costs $8 a week. It was developed by a company called Ufoto Limited, which is owned by a Chinese parent company Wondershare.
After NBC News reached out, Apple removed the app from its App Store, but it remains available on Google Play.