UK Ad Regulator Bans YouTube Advert For AI Photo Editing Tool That Implied Users Could Digitally Undress Women
A YouTube advert suggesting users could remove a woman's clothing in pictures using an AI editing tool has been banned by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority after it was found to objectify women and condone non-consensual image manipulation.
The ad, for a product called PixVideo - AI Video Maker, showed side-by-side "before" and "after" images of a young woman. In the first, red scribble was overlaid on her midriff; in the second, bare skin was visible, including under her shorts. Text at the bottom read: "Erase anything" followed by a heart-eyes emoji.
Eight people complained to the ASA that the ad sexualised and objectified women and was irresponsible, offensive and harmful. The regulator upheld the complaints, ruling the ad was "irresponsible, included a harmful gender stereotype and was likely to cause serious offence." It has been banned from appearing again.
The ASA acknowledged that PixVideo's owner, Saeta Tech, said its terms of service prohibit the creation of nude or sexually explicit content, and that the app uses automated detection tools to block such imagery from being generated. But the regulator said what mattered was the impression the ad created. "Because the ad implied that viewers could use an app to remove a woman's clothing, we considered it condoned digitally altering and exposing women's bodies without their consent," the ASA said.
Saeta Tech said it understood why the ad was likely to cause offence, but argued that the problem lay with its "presentation and messaging rather than the intended or permitted use of the product." The company said it had already removed the ad and voluntarily suspended all advertising while carrying out a "comprehensive" internal audit. The ASA said it welcomed the company's willingness to act, but maintained the ban regardless.
Whether the woman depicted in the ad is a real person or an AI-generated image was not established during the investigation. The ASA told the BBC that making such a determination had not been part of its inquiry.
The ruling comes as so-called "undressing" apps face growing legal and regulatory scrutiny. In January, Elon Musk's Grok chatbot generated a wave of sexualised deepfake images on X, prompting a global backlash and ongoing investigations and lawsuits. The UK government announced in December that it intends to make it a criminal offence to create or supply AI tools that allow users to digitally remove clothing from images of people without their consent, building on existing laws around intimate image abuse and sexually explicit deepfakes.
