A British charity has uncovered a series of artificial intelligence (AI) generated deep fake videos circulating on social media that impersonate doctors and academics to promote wellness products.
Full Fact, which monitors and corrects online misinformation, uncovered pre-existing videos of healthcare professionals that had been digitally manipulated to promote Wellness Nest, a US-based supplements company.
Among those targeted was Professor David Taylor-Robinson, whose footage from a Public Health England (PHE) conference was altered to make it appear he was discussing menopause instead of his original topic of the north-south health divide.
Full Fact warns that doctors who appear on popular health podcasts are particularly vulnerable to being misrepresented in such deepfake content. The charity said that TikTok eventually removed the video and informed Full Fact that it had not taken action sooner due to a moderation error.
The charity added that the issue is not confined to TikTok; Full Face also identified similar deep fakes promoting the Wellness Nest website on Instagram and Facebook, as well as comparable content advertising similar products on YouTube.
When contacted by Full Fact, Wellness Nest said, “These affiliate accounts are 100% unaffiliated with Wellness Nest.”