HARRISBURG — Attorney General Dave Sunday is co-leading a bipartisan coalition of 35 Attorneys General calling on Meta to better enforce policies governing pharmaceutical and wellness advertising on Instagram and Facebook by taking steps to stop misleading AI-generated, weight-loss advertisements.
In a letter co-led by Attorney General Sunday, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the coalition alleges Meta is permitting companies to advertise weight-loss products with deceptive, A.I.-generated, before-after comparison photos, and false guarantees about product effectiveness.
The coalition is calling on Meta to enforce its own policies that prohibit such advertising practices, and to only permit ads for FDA-approved products, while making clear associated risks and side effects.
“Pennsylvanians deserve honest information about their health, not A.I.-generated deception designed to push potentially unsafe products by exploiting customer insecurity,” Attorney General Sunday said. “The use of artificial intelligence to fabricate images, spokespeople, and medical claims crosses a line and makes these ads particularly dangerous. Social media platforms cannot be a free-for-all — Meta’s consumer protection policies are nothing more than window dressings until they actually enforce them.”
GLP-1 weight loss drugs have exploded in popularity over the last few years, as have ads selling the drugs directly to consumers. Dozens of companies are using Meta’s advertising tools to run thousands of ads promoting GLP-1 drugs, most of which are non-FDA approved or compounded.
Meta has existing policies on pharmaceutical and health and wellness ads – but it’s not sufficiently enforcing them. Advertisers are supposed to share information about the medical effectiveness and affordability of drugs, only target adults, and not run ads that push a “perfect” body type or foster unhealthy body images.
But the ads on Meta’s platforms capitalize on people’s dissatisfaction with their bodies and promote weight loss as a tool for self-confidence, desirability, and social mobility – not health. Many ads use body close-ups and side-by-side comparisons and promote weight loss for milestones like the holiday season, weddings, birthdays, and vacations. These ads claim that the drugs will help with rapid weight loss without disclosing the risks and side effects of these medications.
Often, these ads use unlabeled AI-generated content including fake before and after images and nonexistent spokespeople. One ad shows an AI-generated model losing 208 pounds in three weeks. Others use fake AI-created law enforcement officers, nurses, and pharmacists to support their weight loss claims.
In addition to enforcing its existing policies, the attorneys general are asking Meta to:
- Restrict prescription drug ads in the United States to only those that are FDA-approved.
- Require content promoting weight loss products to clearly disclose the risks and potential side effects.
- Prohibit weight loss drug ads that use AI- generated content.
- Label AI-generated content more clearly and develop better tools to detect and remove content that isn’t properly labeled.
- Redirect people to safety and educational resources for weight loss products when they search for those products.
Attorney General Sunday is joined in sending this letter by the Attorneys General of American Samoa, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Washington.
A copy of the letter is available HERE.
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