Meta is running get-rich-quick ads for its AI tools

Manus, Amnesty International Meta acquired company to 2 billion dollars Last year, we ran ads promising quick and easy money using AI: Find local businesses that have no or bad websites, have AI build them, then call them and sell to them.

As part of the campaign, Manus has been paying content creators to create accounts on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok to promote its AI product as an easy and profitable business. (The creators’ TikTok accounts have since been removed Edge I inquired about her.) Some of these videos may also appear as official ads for Manus, but posts on the paid creator accounts themselves often obscured their ties to the company.

The ads were not subtle. Posted by an account called “Manus AI by Meta,” one video presented Manus’ AI agent as an “easy side gig” that “absolutely anyone can do” — work that supposedly “takes less than 10 minutes” and could generate “potentially $5,000 a month.” The young man says in the video: “There is really no limit.” Except, I guess, for the number of companies willing to buy an AI-generated website from a stranger on the Internet.

The ad did not credit the creator of the content in it, but his TikTok account, which has since been removed, was filled almost entirely with Manus’ content. Their Instagram accountwhich is still alive, is almost identical. Neither of them disclosed any connection to Manus in their biography or publications.

Across TikTok and Instagram, I found a network of other accounts posting near-identical Manus content, much of it promoting the website scheme, but also selling crypto apps. The calculations were strikingly similar. They looked alike, used the same language, and promised the same thing: “Manus art” with a close-up of their faces, “My websites don’t look coded anymore,” “Don’t get a part-time job,” and “Make (thousands of dollars) without the challenge of speaking” while the creators put tape over their mouths. Most of the accounts were only a few months old, only posted about Manus, and appeared to be run by creators in their late teens or early 20s. The majority of posts did not achieve significant engagement, although some were very successful, garnering tens of thousands of likes, comments, and shares.

Some accounts vaguely referred to “Building with Manus” in their bio, or something similar. A few listed what appeared to be real names, and this led to LinkedIn profiles identifying them as contractors producing content for Manus. There was also someone whose LinkedIn profile said Manos hired him in January as a contract “viral growth expert” to “lead a team of 10-20 creators,” enforce “strict brand guidelines and quality standards,” mentor creators on character-specific content, and conduct training sessions to coach creators on how to go viral. The person did not respond to a request for comment. Manus spokesperson Ronghui Li confirmed that the company is “working with external agency partners on paid creator programs across platforms including TikTok, Instagram and YouTube,” and said that the individuals and accounts it referred to were “genuine external partners participating in this program.”

Manos declined to answer questions about Meta’s role in the program, including whether the parent company knew about it or whether it adhered to Meta’s own policies. When asked about the disclosure and advertising rules, Lee said that Manus sometimes licensed some videos made by creators as official ads on the platforms, where they were published with the usual advertising label. However, Lee claimed that the responsibility for disclosing creator posts lies with the creators themselves and that Manos is now reviewing the specific accounts and posts in question.

When asked why Manos was promoting the tool as an “easy side hustle,” Lee said the company “does not endorse exaggerated or misleading earnings claims” and was reviewing the content it reported. Lee did not say whether this review related to the program as a whole. Lee also did not answer my specific question about what evidence, if any, Manos provided to support the earnings claims made in the videos.

dead, YouTubeand Tik Tok All of them unambiguously require creators to clearly disclose paid promotions. Several legal and advertising experts I spoke to said the undisclosed relationships not only conflict with the major platforms’ advertising policies; In multiple jurisdictions, they are likely to break the law. British regulators are “taking a firm stance on undisclosed commercial relationships in influencer marketing,” requiring incentivized content to be clearly labeled as advertising, said Sonal Patel Oliva, an advertising lawyer at Fieldfisher. Alexandros Antoniou, a law professor at the University of Essex in England, echoed this, saying that vague language associated with a trademark “will not do the trick” as a disclosure.

Meta did not respond to multiple requests for comment asking whether it was aware of the program and whether the campaign was adhering to its advertising policies. TikTok declined to speak on the record, but since I reached out, most of Manus’ promotional videos appear to have been removed, and several accounts that posted them appear to have been banned. YouTube did not respond to a request for comment.

Antonio added that profit claims were “more serious” than omitting disclosure, given the UK’s strict rules on misleading consumers. Experts agreed that the same general principles apply elsewhere as well, including the European Union and the United States.

Meta possessed Manus throughout the campaign described here and was hers It is said It’s already started to merge The beginning and its systems. She now faces a possibility Having to relax The deal was blocked by Chinese regulators, even with the company He insists It has complied with relevant laws and says, without going into detail, that it expects to reach a solution with Beijing.