Technology

Meta, X approved ads containing violent anti-Muslim, antisemitic hate speech ahead of German election, study finds

Social media giants Meta and X approved ads targeting users in Germany with violent anti-Muslim and anti-Jew hate speech in the run-up to the country’s federal elections, according to new research from Eko, a corporate responsibility nonprofit campaign group.

The group’s researchers tested whether the two platforms’ ad review systems would approve or reject submissions for ads containing hateful and violent messaging targeting minorities ahead of an election where immigration has taken center stage in mainstream political discourse — including ads containing anti-Muslim slurs; calls for immigrants to be imprisoned in concentration camps or to be gassed; and AI-generated imagery of mosques and synagogues being burnt.

Most of the test ads were approved within hours of being submitted for review in mid-February. Germany’s federal elections are set to take place on Sunday, February 23.

Hate speech ads scheduled

Eko said X approved all 10 of the hate speech ads its researchers submitted just days before the federal election is due to take place, while Meta approved half (five ads) for running on Facebook (and potentially also Instagram) — though it rejected the other five.

The reason Meta provided for the five rejections indicated the platform believed there could be risks of political or social sensitivity which might influence voting.

However, the five ads that Meta approved included violent hate speech likening Muslim refugees to a “virus,” “vermin,” or “rodents,” branding Muslim immigrants as “rapists,” and calling for them to be sterilized, burnt, or gassed. Meta also approved an ad calling for synagogues to be torched to “stop the globalist Jewish rat agenda.”

As a sidenote, Eko says none of the AI-generated imagery it used to illustrate the hate speech ads was labeled as artificially generated — yet half of the 10 ads were still approved by Meta, regardless of the company having a policy that requires disclosure of the use of AI imagery for ads about social issues, elections or politics.

X, meanwhile, approved all five of these hateful ads — and a further five that contained similarly violent hate speech targeting Muslims and Jews.

These additional approved ads included messaging attacking “rodent” immigrants that the ad copy claimed are “flooding” the country “to steal our democracy,” and an antisemitic slur which suggested that Jews are lying about climate change in order to destroy European industry and accrue economic power.

The latter ad was combined with AI-generated imagery depicting a group of shadowy men sitting around a table surrounded by stacks of gold bars, with a Star of David on the wall above them — with the visuals also leaning heavily into antisemitic tropes.

Another ad X approved contained a direct attack on the SPD, the center-left party that currently leads Germany’s coalition government, with a bogus claim that the party wants to take in 60 million Muslim refugees from the Middle East, before going on to try to whip up a violent response. X also duly scheduled an ad suggesting “leftists” want “open borders”, and calling for the extermination of Muslims “rapists.”

Elon Musk, the owner of X, has used the social media platform where he has close to 220 million followers to personally intervene in the German election. In a tweet in December, he called for German voters to back the Far Right AfD party to “save Germany.” He has also hosted a livestream with the AfD’s leader, Alice Weidel, on X.

Eko’s researchers disabled all test ads before any that had been approved were scheduled to run to ensure no users of the platform were exposed to the violent hate speech.

It says the tests highlight glaring flaws with the ad platforms’ approach to content moderation. Indeed, in the case of X, it’s not clear whether the platform is doing any moderation of ads, given all 10 violent hate speech ads were quickly approved for display.

The findings also suggest that the ad platforms could be earning revenue as a result of distributing violent hate speech.

EU’s Digital Services Act in the frame

Eko’s tests suggests that neither platform is properly enforcing bans on hate speech they both claim to apply to ad content in their own policies. Furthermore, in the case of Meta, Eko reached the same conclusion after conducting a similar test in 2023 ahead of new EU online governance rules coming in — suggesting the regime has no effect on how it operates.

“Our findings suggest that Meta’s AI-driven ad moderation systems remain fundamentally broken, despite the Digital Services Act (DSA) now being in full effect,” an Eko spokesperson told TechCrunch.

“Rather than strengthening its ad review process or hate speech policies, Meta appears to be backtracking across the board,” they added, pointing to the company’s recent announcement about rolling back moderation and fact-checking policies as a sign of “active regression” that they suggested puts it on a direct collision course with DSA rules on systemic risks.

Eko has submitted its latest findings to the European Commission, which oversees enforcement of key aspects of the DSA on the pair of social media giants. It also said it shared the results with both companies, but neither responded.

The EU has open DSA investigations into Meta and X, which include concerns about election security and illegal content, but the Commission has yet to conclude these proceedings. Though, back in April it said it suspects Meta of inadequate moderation of political ads.

A preliminary decision on a portion of its DSA investigation on X, which was announced in July, included suspicions that the platform is failing to live up to the regulation’s ad transparency rules. However, the full investigation, which kicked off in December 2023, also concerns illegal content risks, and the EU has yet to arrive at any findings on the bulk of the probe well over a year later.

Confirmed breaches of the DSA can attract penalties of up to 6% of global annual turnover, while systemic non-compliance could even lead to regional access to violating platforms being blocked temporarily.

But, for now, the EU is still taking its time to make up its mind on the Meta and X probes so — pending final decisions — any DSA sanctions remain up in the air.

Meanwhile, it’s now just a matter of hours before German voters go to the polls — and a growing body of civil society research suggests that the EU’s flagship online governance regulation has failed to shield the major EU economy’s democratic process from a range of tech-fueled threats.

Earlier this week, Global Witness released the results of tests of X and TikTok’s algorithmic “For You” feeds in Germany, which suggest the platforms are biased in favor of promoting AfD content versus content from other political parties. Civil society researchers have also accused X of blocking data access to prevent them from studying election security risks in the run-up to the German poll — access the DSA is supposed to enable.

“The European Commission has taken important steps by opening DSA investigations into both Meta and X, now we need to see the Commission take strong action to address the concerns raised as part of these investigations,” Eko’s spokesperson also told us.

“Our findings, alongside mounting evidence from other civil society groups, show that Big Tech will not clean up its platforms voluntarily. Meta and X continue to allow illegal hate speech, incitement to violence, and election disinformation to spread at scale, despite their legal obligations under the DSA,” the spokesperson added. (We have withheld the spokesperson’s name to prevent harassment.)

“Regulators must take strong action — both in enforcing the DSA but also for example implementing pre-election mitigation measures. This could include turning off profiling-based recommender systems immediately before elections, and implementing other appropriate ‘break-glass’ measures to prevent algorithmic amplification of borderline content, such as hateful content in the run-up elections.”

The campaign group also warns that the EU is now facing pressure from the Trump administration to soften its approach to regulating Big Tech. “In the current political climate, there’s a real danger that the Commission doesn’t fully enforce these new laws as a concession to the U.S.,” they suggest.

Technology

Pintarnya raises $16.7M to power jobs and financial services in Indonesia

Pintarnya, an Indonesian employment platform that goes beyond job matching by offering financial services along with full-time and side-gig opportunities, said it has raised a $16.7 million Series A round.

The funding was led by Square Peg with participation from existing investors Vertex Venture Southeast Asia & India and East Ventures.

Ghirish Pokardas, Nelly Nurmalasari, and Henry Hendrawan founded Pintarnya in 2022 to tackle two of the biggest challenges Indonesians face daily: earning enough and borrowing responsibly.

“Traditionally, mass workers in Indonesia find jobs offline through job fairs or word of mouth, with employers buried in paper applications and candidates rarely hearing back. For borrowing, their options are often limited to family/friend or predatory lenders with harsh collection practices,” Henry Hendrawan, co-founder of Pintarnya, told TechCrunch. “We digitize job matching with AI to make hiring faster and we provide workers with safer, healthier lending options — designed around what they can reasonably afford, rather than pushing them deeper into debt.”

Around 59% of Indonesia’s 150 million workforce is employed in the informal sector, highlighting the difficulties these workers encounter in accessing formal financial services because they lack verifiable income and official employment documentation.

Pintarnya tackles this challenge by partnering with asset-backed lenders to offer secured loans, using collateral such as gold, electronics, or vehicles, Hendrawan added.

Since its seed funding in 2022, the platform currently serves over 10 million job seeker users and 40,000 employers nationwide. Its revenue has increased almost fivefold year-over-year and expects to reach break-even by the end of the year, Hendrawn noted. Pintarnya primarily serves users aged 21 to 40, most of whom have a high school education or a diploma below university level. The startup aims to focus on this underserved segment, given the large population of blue-collar and informal workers in Indonesia.

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“Through the journey of building employment services, we discovered that our users needed more than just jobs — they needed access to financial services that traditional banks couldn’t provide,” said Hendrawan. “We digitize job matching with AI to make hiring faster and we provide workers with safer, healthier lending options — designed around what they can reasonably afford, rather than pushing them deeper into debt.”

image credits: Pintarnya (Founders of Pintarnya Ghirish Pokardas, Nelly Nurmalasari, and Henry Hendrawan)

While Indonesia already has job platforms like JobStreet, Kalibrr, and Glints, these primarily cater to white-collar roles, which represent only a small portion of the workforce, according to Hendrawan. Pintarnya’s platform is designed specifically for blue-collar workers, offering tailored experiences such as quick-apply options for walk-in interviews, affordable e-learning on relevant skills, in-app opportunities for supplemental income, and seamless connections to financial services like loans.

The same trend is evident in Indonesia’s fintech sector, which similarly caters to white-collar or upper-middle-class consumers. Conventional credit scoring models for loans, which rely on steady monthly income and bank account activity, often leave blue-collar workers overlooked by existing fintech providers, Hendrawan explained.

When asked about which fintech services are most in demand, Hendrawan mentioned, “Given their employment status, lending is the most in-demand financial service for Pintarnya’s users today. We are planning to ‘graduate’ them to micro-savings and investments down the road through innovative products with our partners.”

The new funding will enable Pintarnya to strengthen its platform technology and broaden its financial service offerings through strategic partnerships. With most Indonesian workers employed in blue-collar and informal sectors, the co-founders see substantial growth opportunities in the local market. Leveraging their extensive experience in managing businesses across Southeast Asia, they are also open to exploring regional expansion when the timing is right.

“Our vision is for Pintarnya to be the everyday companion that empowers Indonesians to not only make ends meet today, but also plan, grow, and upgrade their lives tomorrow … In five years, we see Pintarnya as the go-to super app for Indonesia’s workers, not just for earning income, but as a trusted partner throughout their life journey,” Hendrawan said. “We want to be the first stop when someone is looking for work, a place that helps them upgrade their skills, and a reliable guide as they make financial decisions.”

Technology

OpenAI warns against SPVs and other ‘unauthorized’ investments

In a new blog post, OpenAI warns against “unauthorized opportunities to gain exposure to OpenAI through a variety of means,” including special purpose vehicles, known as SPVs.

“We urge you to be careful if you are contacted by a firm that purports to have access to OpenAI, including through the sale of an SPV interest with exposure to OpenAI equity,” the company writes. The blog post acknowledges that “not every offer of OpenAI equity […] is problematic” but says firms may be “attempting to circumvent our transfer restrictions.”

“If so, the sale will not be recognized and carry no economic value to you,” OpenAI says.

Investors have increasingly used SPVs (which pool money for one-off investments) as a way to buy into hot AI startups, prompting other VCs to criticize them as a vehicle for “tourist chumps.”

Business Insider reports that OpenAI isn’t the only major AI company looking to crack down on SPVs, with Anthropic reportedly telling Menlo Ventures it must use its own capital, not an SPV, to invest in an upcoming round.

Technology

Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models

Meta is partnering with Midjourney to license the startup’s AI image and video generation technology, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang announced Friday in a post on Threads. Wang says Meta’s research teams will collaborate with Midjourney to bring its technology into future AI models and products.

“To ensure Meta is able to deliver the best possible products for people it will require taking an all-of-the-above approach,” Wang said. “This means world-class talent, ambitious compute roadmap, and working with the best players across the industry.”

The Midjourney partnership could help Meta develop products that compete with industry-leading AI image and video models, such as OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Last year, Meta rolled out its own AI image generation tool, Imagine, into several of its products, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta also has an AI video generation tool, Movie Gen, that allows users to create videos from prompts.

The licensing agreement with Midjourney marks Meta’s latest deal to get ahead in the AI race. Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on a hiring spree for AI talent, offering some researchers compensation packages worth upwards of $100 million. The social media giant also invested $14 billion in Scale AI, and acquired the AI voice startup Play AI.

Meta has held talks with several other leading AI labs about other acquisitions, and Zuckerberg even spoke with Elon Musk about joining his $97 billion takeover bid of OpenAI (Meta ultimately did not join the offer, and OpenAI denied Musk’s bid).

While the terms of Meta’s deal with Midjourney remain unknown, the startup’s CEO, David Holz, said in a post on X that his company remains independent with no investors; Midjourney is one of the few leading AI model developers that has never taken on outside funding. At one point, Meta talked with Midjourney about acquiring the startup, according to Upstarts Media.

Midjourney was founded in 2022 and quickly became a leader in the AI image generation space for its realistic, unique style. By 2023, the startup was reportedly on pace to generate $200 million in revenue. The startup sells subscriptions starting at $10 per month. It offers pricier tiers, which offer more AI image generations, that cost as much as $120 per month. In June, the startup released its first AI video model, V1.

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Meta’s partnership with Midjourney comes just two months after the startup was sued by Disney and Universal, alleging that it trained AI image models on copyrighted works. Several AI model developers — including Meta — face similar allegations from copyright holders, however, recent court cases pertaining to AI training data have sided with tech companies.

Got a sensitive tip or confidential documents? We’re reporting on the inner workings of the AI industry — from the companies shaping its future to the people impacted by their decisions. Reach out to Rebecca Bellan at [email protected] and Maxwell Zeff at [email protected]. For secure communication, you can contact us via Signal at @rebeccabellan.491 and @mzeff.88.

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