Meta built and briefly tested an AI-generated news feed inside its standalone Meta AI app, producing clickbait-style stories with AI-written text and AI-generated images — with no labels identifying any of the content as artificial. The company confirmed in June 2026 that it would shut the feature down.
The feature appeared as a “For You” section within the Meta AI app, which originally launched in April 2025. The feed presented users with suggested story prompts tailored to their apparent interests. Tapping a prompt generated a full article on the spot. A reporter at The Verge based in London received prompts centered on British stereotypes — tea etiquette, pub culture, queuing psychology, and the royal family. A colleague’s feed was targeted toward luxury watch content, with suggested stories including “My fake Rolex experiment” and “The brutal math behind the Rolex waitlist illusion.”
The generated articles offered little substance, repeatedly restating their own premises with no sourcing. Images accompanying the stories contained common AI errors — distorted hands, unnatural body angles, and animated GIFs with physically impossible movements. Some images depicted real public figures inaccurately, including one that showed two Queen Elizabeth IIs despite her death years earlier. No labels indicated the content was AI-generated, despite Meta’s stated policy of labeling AI-detected material.
Meta declined to answer questions about the feature’s purpose, whether its output constituted news or fiction, what safeguards were in place, or whether images of real people complied with its own AI-content policies. Spokesperson Tracy Clayton issued three statements in a single day. The final one read: “This was a test for a limited number of users and it will be deprecated. Meta has no plans to move forward with this feature.”
That characterization raised further questions. At least four Verge staff members had access to the feature, suggesting the test may have reached a broader audience than Meta’s statement implied.
Source: The Verge