Social media is being flooded by digitally created “deepfake” videos using the trusted identities of famous doctors to promote dangerous miracle cures for serious health problems, experts warn.
Videos on Facebook and Instagram have taken advantage of the credibility of star TV doctors to advertise untested “natural” syrups for diabetes, even claiming that the proven, first-line drug metformin “could kill” patients.
These scams risk endangering lives, experts said, particularly because they deploy the likenesses of popular health experts such as British TV presenter Michael Mosley, who died earlier this year.
“People do seem to trust these videos,” British doctor John Cormack told AFP.
“A lot of these media doctors have spent a great deal of time creating an image of trustworthiness, so they are believed even when they make incredible claims,” said Cormack, who has worked with the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on the subject.
Artificial intelligence (AI) expert Henry Ajder said that doctor deepfakes “really took […]
As a society we have become very used to fraud. This was not always the case. The change marks a profound devolution of values and expectations by the public. Until the so called elected representatives make the prosecution of fraud a priority little will change. By writing this I don’t mean the targeting of misinformation as an open door to censorship. This article illustrates the theft of identity for the purpose of profit. It is the theft and fraud which needs to be targeted with consequences, not the censorship of speech.