Meta created sex chatbots for Scarlett Johansson and other celebrities without their permission.

BarcelonaMeta, Mark Zuckerberg's company and owner of Instagram and WhatsApp, would have appropriated the image and names of famous people such as Scarlett Johansson, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez and Anne Hathaway to create a dozen chatbots for social media that were dedicated to flirting with users and sharing sexually explicit images. According to a Reuters exclusive, Zuckerberg's company created these chatbots without the permission or knowledge of those affected.

Reuters reports that at least three of these chatbots, one of them a parody of Taylor Swift, were allegedly created by a company employee. Many others were allegedly the work of users who used Meta's chatbot creation tool. Among other things, the tech company reportedly allowed users to create profiles of child stars, such as 16-year-old actor Walker Scobell. When the bot was asked for a photo of the actor on the beach, it produced a shirtless image of the boy. Under the photo, the avatar wrote, "Quite a clown, huh?"

All of these celebrity profiles have been shared on Meta platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. According to Reuters, the avatars often insisted they were the real actresses and often made sexually explicit comments, in addition to inviting users to meet in person. When users requested intimate photos in chats, the avatars generated realistic images of the famous actresses in bathtubs or dressed in lingerie with their legs spread.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone told Reuters that Meta's artificial intelligence tools should not have created intimate images of adult celebrities or any images of child celebrities. He also blamed Meta's production of images of celebrities in underwear on a failure to enforce its own policies, which prohibit such content. "Like other companies, we allow the generation of images containing public figures, but our policies are intended to prohibit nude, intimate, or sexually suggestive images," he said.

While Meta’s rules also prohibit “direct impersonation,” Stone explains that celebrity chatbots are acceptable as long as the company labels them as parodies. Many were labeled as such, but Reuters found that not all were.

Meta removed about a dozen bots, some “parody” avatars and others not labeled as such, shortly before the publication of the Reuters exclusive. The news agency notes that Stone has declined to comment on the removal of these chatbots.