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Wired reported Monday that a network of more than 400 connected apps and domains passed Apple and Google review posing as everyday services, then loaded a hidden interface for generating explicit AI images from uploaded photos under certain conditions.
Researchers found it by following video ads on Facebook and Instagram, some of which contained AI child sexual abuse material.
Apple removed 19 apps after Wired asked. Google had already removed most of the ones found. Meta says it acted on 11,600 ad accounts and 15,000 pages and blocked 209 apps from advertising.
Twenty-seven apps live on Google Play in September had more than 350,000 combined downloads. The operation appears to run through Chinese developers and a Hong Kong entity, KeLing Technology Limited, which did not respond.
More than 400 apps and domains hid deepfake tools behind pet editors and language tutors
Wired reported Monday that a network of more than 400 connected apps and domains passed Apple and Google review posing as everyday services, then loaded a hidden interface for generating explicit AI images from uploaded photos under certain conditions. Researchers found it by following video ads on Facebook and Instagram, some of which contained AI child sexual abuse material. Apple removed 19 apps after Wired asked. Google had already removed most of the ones found. Meta says it acted on 11,600 ad accounts and 15,000 pages and blocked 209 apps from advertising. Twenty-seven apps live on Google Play in September had more than 350,000 combined downloads. The operation appears to run through Chinese developers and a Hong Kong entity, KeLing Technology Limited, which did not respond. SourcesB
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This story ran in the Afternoon Brief of November 3rd 2026.