Meta-owned AI company Manus has been quietly funding a network of young creators to push its AI tools as an easy path to thousands of dollars a month, according to The Verge AI. The investigation found Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube accounts posing as independent enthusiasts while operating under contract with Manus, the $2 billion AI startup Meta acquired last year. The Verge AI reports that most of these creators never disclosed the paid relationship, a practice that legal experts say likely violates platform rules and advertising laws in multiple jurisdictions.
This matters because it puts Meta at the center of two thorny problems at once: undisclosed influencer marketing and exaggerated AI earnings claims, both of which regulators are actively watching.
What the campaign actually pushed
The pitch was simple and aggressive. One ad from an account called “Manus AI by Meta” framed the product as an “Easy side hustle” that “absolutely anybody can do,” takes “less than 10 minutes,” and can bring in a “potential $5k a month.” The young creator in the clip says, “There is literally no limit.”
The playbook described in the article goes like this:
- Use Manus to find local businesses without websites or with weak ones
- Have the AI build them a site
- Cold call the business and sell it
The Verge AI documented a network of near-identical accounts running the same language, the same close-up shots, and the same scripts. Most were a few months old, posted only Manus content, and appeared to be run by creators in their late teens and early 20s. Engagement was mostly thin, but a handful of clips went viral.
The disclosure problem
Meta, YouTube, and TikTok all require creators to clearly label paid promotions. The Verge AI found that the accounts in question rarely did. Some hinted at “building with Manus” in their bios. A few listed real names that traced back to LinkedIn profiles identifying them as Manus contractors. One profile even described leading “a team of 10-20 content creators” under “strict brand guidelines.”
Manus spokesperson Ronghui Li confirmed to The Verge AI that the company “works with third-party agency partners on paid UGC creator programs across platforms including TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.” Li pushed responsibility for disclosure onto the creators themselves and said Manus does “not endorse exaggerated or misleading earnings claims.” Meta did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Why regulators care
Legal experts told The Verge AI this isn’t just a policy issue. Sonal Patel Oliva, an advertising lawyer at Fieldfisher, said British regulators “take a firm position on undisclosed commercial relationships in influencer marketing.” Alexandros Antoniou, a law professor at the University of Essex, said vague brand-adjacent language “won’t cut it” as disclosure, and that earnings claims are “riskier” than disclosure omissions because of strict rules on misleading consumers. The same principles, the experts said, apply across the EU and US.
After The Verge AI started asking questions, most of the Manus hype videos vanished from TikTok, and many of the accounts were banned. The featured creator’s TikTok account was also taken down.
What stands out here
This is one of the cleaner examples we’ve seen of how AI companies are using influencer pipelines to manufacture ground-level demand. The pattern (paid creators, lookalike accounts, lottery-ticket earnings claims, no disclosure) mirrors crypto and dropshipping promo waves from prior years. The difference is the parent company. Meta runs the platforms where this content lives and writes the policies the campaign appears to violate.
There’s a second wrinkle. Meta is reportedly facing the prospect of unwinding the Manus deal after Chinese regulators blocked it. The company says it expects to reach a resolution with Beijing. Either way, the campaign happened on Meta’s watch.
Expect tighter scrutiny of AI vendor influencer programs, more takedowns from TikTok and Instagram, and possible regulatory action in the UK and EU. Full reporting is available at the original source.