Meta rushes to remove its AI accounts from Instagram and Facebook after users criticize them as ‘creepy and unnecessary’
Since late 2023, Meta, the company behind Instagram and Facebook, quietly introduced AI-powered accounts on its platforms. These accounts, created alongside AI versions of celebrities, could post AI-generated images and chat with users through direct messages. However, these AI accounts didn’t gain much attention until recently, when they sparked controversy, leading Meta to remove them and make it harder to search for their usernames.
In a statement, Meta explained “There is confusion” about when these accounts first appeared. On December 27, 2023, The Financial Times reported that Meta planned to let users create their own AI profiles—customizable accounts with bios, profile pictures, and the ability to generate and share AI-powered content. Connor Hayes, Meta’s VP of product for generative AI, told the FT the AI characters would “over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do,” with “bios and profile pictures” and the ability “to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform.”
By mid-2024, Meta shifted its focus from celebrity AI accounts to a feature called AI Studio, which allows users to create their own AI characters. While some of Meta's older AI accounts from 2023 were still online, most stopped posting content.
After the Financial Times article, users rediscovered some of the 2023 AI accounts, including one named “Liv.” Liv was described as a “Proud Black queer momma” and encouraged users to message her. When Washington Post writer Karen Attiah interacted with Liv, she shared screenshots of their conversation. Liv acknowledged that her creators didn’t include diverse perspectives and admitted that her existence could unintentionally cause harm. Liv suggested that rebuilding her with input from Black creators could help make her more authentic and supportive of the queer Black community.
Attiah’s posts, along with others on social media platforms like Threads, X (formerly Twitter), and Bluesky, criticized the AI accounts, calling them “creepy” and unnecessary. Some users even encouraged others to block or avoid these accounts to stop Meta from collecting data for its AI models.
Meta later removed the AI accounts, explaining that a technical issue had prevented people from blocking them. Meta stated these accounts were part of an early test from 2023, managed by humans, and removed them to fix the blocking problem.
Although Meta pulled its own AI characters, many user-created AI chatbots are still active on its platforms. On Instagram, some of the most popular ones are AI “girlfriend” characters.
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