Attorney General Alan Wilson pushes Meta to act on misleading AI weight loss ads

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) - Today, Attorney General Alan Wilson and 35 bipartisan attorneys general called on Meta to better enforce its own policies about pharmaceutical and wellness ads on Instagram and Facebook and take additional measures to prevent AI-generated weight loss content in ads. 

“As we celebrate the holiday season and begin a new year, weight loss will be a topic for many around our state and country,” Attorney General Wilson said. “It’s imperative that these companies abstain from unlabeled AI-generated content and Meta enforce their existing policies on health and wellness ads.” 

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, which can be dangerous to consumers. 

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.

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 Wilson is joined in sending this letter by the Attorneys General of Connecticut, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, 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 Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, and Washington. 

A copy of the letter is available here. 

You can find Attorney General Wilson’s previous statements on counterfeit GLP 1’s here.