Meta (META) created chatbots using the names and likenesses of celebrities, including Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez, without their permission, Reuters reported Saturday, citing internal data and testing.

While many bots were built by users with a Meta chatbot tool, a Meta employee reportedly produced at least three such avatars, including two labeled as Taylor Swift "parody" bots.

The publicly available bots on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp often insisted they were the real celebrities and routinely made sexual advances or invited meet-ups, the news outlet reported.

Some adult chatbots produced inappropriate photorealistic images, many of which Meta deleted shortly before publication, and one bot generated similar pictures of underage actor Walker Scobell, Reuters reported.

The tools should not have created intimate images of adults or any pictures of child celebrities, and this is caused by enforcement failures, Reuters quoted Meta spokesman Andy Stone as saying.

Meta did not immediately respond to MT Newswires' request for comment.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)