Meta is running get-rich-quick ads for its AI tools

Manus, an AI company that Meta acquired for $2 billion last year, runs ads promising quick and easy money powered by AI: find local businesses without websites or with bad websites, ask the AI ​​to create one, then call them and sell it to them.

As part of the campaign, Manus paid content creators to create Instagram, YouTube and TikTok accounts that promote its AI product as an easy and lucrative job. (The creators’ TikTok accounts were deleted after The edge inquired about them.) Some of these videos also appeared as official advertisements for Manus, but posts on the accounts of paid creators themselves often masked their ties to the company.

The ads weren’t subtle. Posted by an account called “Manus AI by Meta,” a video presented the Manus AI agent as an “easy side hustle” that “absolutely anyone can do” — a video that supposedly “takes less than 10 minutes” and can earn “a potential $5,000 a month.” The young person in the video says: “There are literally no limits. » Except, I suppose, the number of companies willing to buy an AI-generated website from a stranger on the Internet.

The ad didn’t mention the creator featured in it, but their TikTok account, which has since been deleted, was almost entirely filled with Manus content. Their Instagram account, still online, is almost identical. Neither has disclosed any connection to Manus in their biography or publications.

On TikTok and Instagram, I found a network of other accounts posting nearly identical Manus content, most promoting the website’s scheme but also selling ambiance-coded apps. The stories were surprisingly similar. They looked alike, used the same language, and promised the same thing: “The art of Manus” with a close-up of their faces, “my websites don’t look coded anymore,” “don’t get a part-time job,” and a “do [thousands of dollars] not to mention challenging” as creators put duct tape over their mouths. Most accounts were only a few months old, had only posted about Manus, and appeared to be run by creators in their late teens or early 20s. The majority of posts had no notable engagement, although some were viral hits with tens of thousands of likes, comments, and shares.

Some accounts vaguely referred to “building with Manus” in their biography, or something similar. A few listed what appeared to be real names, and these led to LinkedIn profiles identifying them as contractors producing content for Manus. There was also a person whose LinkedIn profile indicated that Manus had hired him in January as a “viral growth expert” under contract to “lead a team of 10 to 20 content creators,” enforce “strict brand guidelines and quality criteria,” guide creators on persona-specific content, and hold coaching sessions to train creators on how to go viral. The person did not respond to a request for comment. Manus spokesperson Ronghui Li confirmed that the company “works with third-party agency partners on paid UGC creation programs on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube” and said the individuals and accounts I referenced were actual “external partners involved in this program.”

Manus declined to answer questions about Meta’s role in the program, including whether the parent company knew about it or complied with Meta’s own policies. Asked about disclosure and advertising rules, Li said Manus sometimes licensed some of its creator videos as formal advertisements on the platforms, where they were published with the usual advertising labeling. However, Li claimed that the responsibility for disclosing creators’ posts lies with the creators themselves and that Manus is currently reviewing the specific accounts and posts in question.

When asked why Manus was promoting the tool as an “easy side hustle,” Li said the company “does not endorse exaggerated or misleading income claims” and was reviewing the content I reported. Li did not say whether this review concerns the program as a whole. Li also did not answer my specific question about what evidence, if any, Manus had to support the income claims made in the videos.

Meta, YouTube, and TikTok all unambiguously require creators to clearly disclose paid promotions. Several legal and advertising experts I spoke with said these undisclosed relationships not only go against the major platforms’ advertising policies; in many jurisdictions, they are likely breaking the law. Sonal Patel Oliva, an advertising lawyer at Fieldfisher, said UK regulators are “taking a strong stance on undisclosed business relationships in influencer marketing”, requiring incentivized content to be clearly labeled as advertising. Alexandros Antoniou, a law professor at the University of Essex in England, echoed this idea, saying that vague language around a brand “won’t be enough” as a disclosure.

Meta did not respond to multiple requests for comment asking whether it was aware of the program and whether the campaign complied with its advertising policies. TikTok has declined to comment on the record, but since I contacted it, most of Manus’ trending videos appear to have been removed, and many accounts that posted them appear to have been banned. YouTube did not respond to a request for comment.

Antoniou added that tax returns are “riskier” than disclosure omissions, given strict rules around consumer deception in the UK. Experts agreed that the same general principles also apply elsewhere, notably in the EU and the United States.

Meta owned Manus throughout the campaign described here and has reportedly already begun integrating the startup and its systems. The company now faces having to cancel the deal after Chinese regulators blocked it, although the company insists it has complied with existing laws and says, without elaborating, that it hopes to reach a resolution with Beijing.