Business·4/30/2026AI summary Meta-Owned Manus AI Running Misleading Ads Promising $5K/Month for AI-Generated Websites
The Verge investigation found Manus AI (Meta's $2B acquisition) ran an advertising campaign paying content creators to promote its AI tool as an easy side hustle capable of generating $5,000/month. Creators on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube posted near-identical hype videos without disclosing their paid relationships with Manus. The ads, which claimed the work takes less than 10 minutes, did not clearly label themselves as advertisements. Legal experts say the undisclosed commercial relationships likely violate platform policies and advertising laws in multiple jurisdictions including the UK, EU, and US.