Meta sues CrushAI developer amid broader crackdown on ‘nudify’ apps
Published: 11:04 12 Jun 2025 EDT
Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, ETR:FB2A, SWX:FB) has filed a lawsuit against Joy Timeline HK Limited, the Hong Kong-based developer behind CrushAI, an app that uses artificial intelligence to generate non-consensual nude and sexually explicit images of individuals by manipulating their photos.
Filed in a Hong Kong district court, the lawsuit alleges that the company repeatedly violated Meta’s advertising policies by promoting CrushAI across Facebook and Instagram.
According to Meta, Joy Timeline ran more than 87,000 ads for the app, despite these clearly violating rules prohibiting adult content, sexual exploitation, and harassment.
The developer allegedly used a web of at least 170 business accounts and over 135 Facebook Pages to bypass detection, targeting users in countries including the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, and the UK.
In a post on its website, Meta highlighted other steps it is taking to crack down on “nudify” apps.
Meta has implemented new detection technologies that can identify ads for nudify apps even when the images themselves appear benign. This includes enhanced systems trained to detect suggestive keywords, phrases, and emojis used to evade moderation tools.
The company has also begun sharing signals about violating services with other tech companies through the Tech Coalition’s Lantern program. Since late March, Meta said it has submitted more than 3,800 URLs associated with nudify services to the coalition to help others identify and block them.
