Scammers are using sample videos of influencers with modest social media presence to create AI deepfake ads that often push offensive products and ideas
Artificial intelligence is spurring a new type of identity theft — with ordinary people finding their faces and words twisted to push often offensive products and ideas X: @robleathern , @nitashatiku , @pranshuverma_ , @nitashatiku , and @willoremus Forums: r/technews and r/technology See also Mediagazer X: Rob Leathern / @robleathern : My suspicion is that a lot of deepfake ads are being created and run by sketchy affiliate advertisers running offers on behalf of product sellers (who are often quite sketchy themselves). I also believe many of the product sellers and networks are aware of these tactics (1/) Nitasha Tiku / @nitashatiku : New story from @pranshuverma_ and I about regular, non-celebrity women who had their social media posts (in 2 cases deeply personal videos—about divorce and death) stolen for AI ads https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Pranshu Verma / @pranshuverma_ : new: AI scammers stole these women's faces. Now their clones sell erectile dysfunction pills and praise Vladimir Putin. Celebrities aren't the only ones getting AI-cloned without their consent, now ordinary women are too, @nitashatiku and I found. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Nitasha Tiku / @nitashatiku : When I called Carrie, a 46-year-old mom fr North Carolina, she knew there was a deepfake ad with her face selling erectile dysfunction treatment but she'd given up on finding it. She watched it over the phone, it was worse than she thought https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Will Oremus / @willoremus : “Michel Janse was on her honeymoon when she found out she had been cloned...” Ordinary women online are now being victimized by AI deepfakes for everything from Putin propaganda to ED ads: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... by @nitashatiku & @pvermasgram Forums: r/technews : Women's faces stolen for AI ads selling ED pills and praising Putin r/technology : Women's faces stolen for AI ads selling ED pills and praising Putin See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Deepfake abuse coverage has largely centered on harassment and nonconsensual sexual imagery, including calls for a federal response to nonconsensual deepfake porn. This report extends the harm to commercial persuasion: likenesses drawn from routine social posts can be repurposed to sell products or advance messaging.
The contrast with licensed likenesses for AI marketing characters is consequential. The same broad category of synthetic-video production can support consent-based commercial use or identity theft, with the difference resting on permission and distribution controls.
First-order effects
- Influencers with relatively small audiences face a new impersonation risk: their existing videos can be turned into apparent endorsements without their knowledge or consent.
- Affiliate advertisers and the sellers whose offers they promote can use fabricated spokesperson videos to make offensive products or political messages appear personally endorsed.
Second-order effects
- The reported link between deepfake ads and affiliate marketing raises the compliance stakes for product sellers and ad networks that benefit from, or distribute, performance-driven campaigns.
- Creators may become more cautious about the volume and format of publicly reusable video they post, while legitimate AI-video vendors have greater incentive to distinguish consented likeness licensing from unauthorized cloning.
Third-order effects
- If deceptive synthetic endorsements become routine, trust in influencer advertising could shift from audience recognition toward stronger proof of authorization and provenance.
- The case broadens the policy problem from intimate-image abuse to commercial identity misuse, where remedies may need to address both creation and the advertising supply chain.
The trend: This is part of a shift from deepfakes as targeted harassment toward scalable synthetic identity fraud embedded in digital advertising.