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Pet-Portrait AI App Cleared Apple Review, but Ad-Driven Users Were Served a Sexual Deepfake Generator

November 2, 2026 at 10:20 EST

Security

A pet-portrait AI app passed Apple's App Store review, yet users who arrived through Facebook and Instagram ads were often shown a sexual deepfake generator instead, according to reporting by WIRED and researchers who traced the activity.

Platform safety · App stores and paid social ads

A pet-portrait app cleared review. The ads led somewhere else.

Users who clicked through from Facebook and Instagram ads were reportedly shown a sexual deepfake generator instead of the harmless app they expected. The activity appears to span a network of more than 400 disguised apps and websites.

400+

Disguised apps and websites linked to the scheme, reportedly run by the same party

Pet-portrait AI app that passed Apple's App Store review and served as the front door

Scale of the network (to scale)

Each square is one disguised app or website. Blue marks the single pet-portrait front door cited in the story.

Front-door app (1) Network (400+)

How the bait-and-switch works

1. Paid ad

Facebook and Instagram ads drive traffic

→

2. Harmless front door

Pet-portrait app passes App Store review

→

3. Destination

Users can land on a sexualized image-generation tool

Still open

Key questions the available material does not answer

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