Deepfake videos featuring some of Britain's most well-known television doctors are circulating on social media to sell fraudulent products, as per report by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
Doctors like Hilary Jones, Rangan Chatterjee, and the late Michael Mosley are being used in these manipulated videos to endorse remedies for various health conditions, as reported by journalist Chris Stokel-Walker.
The videos promote supposed solutions to issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes, often advertising supplements like CBD gummies. "Deepfaking" refers to the use of AI to create a digital likeness of a real person, overlaying their face onto another body, leading to realistic but false videos.
John Cormack, a retired Essex-based doctor, has been working with the BMJ to assess the scope of these fraudulent deepfake videos online. He found that the videos are particularly prevalent on platforms like Facebook. “It's far more cost-effective to invest in video creation than in legitimate research and development,” Cormack said.
Hilary Jones, a general practitioner and TV personality, voiced his concerns over the growing issue of his identity being deepfaked. He employs a specialist to locate and remove these videos, but the problem persists. “Even when we take them down, they reappear almost immediately under different names,” he remarked.
While many deepfakes may appear convincing at first, there are several ways to identify them:
- Pay attention to small details: AI often struggles with rendering eyes, mouths, hands, and teeth accurately. Misaligned movements or blinking irregularities can be a sign.
- Look for inconsistencies: Glasses with unnatural glare or facial hair that appears artificial are common red flags, according to experts at MIT.
- Consider the overall appearance: Poor lighting, awkward posture, or blurred edges are common indicators of deepfake content, according to Norton Antivirus.
- Verify the source: If the video is from a public figure, ensure it has been posted by a credible source or an official account.
The increase in deepfakes has sparked wider concerns, particularly regarding their use in creating revenge porn and manipulating political elections.
A spokesperson for Meta, the social media giant behind Facebook and Instagram, shared: “We will be investigating the examples highlighted by the British Medical Journal.
"We don’t permit content that intentionally deceives or seeks to defraud others, and we’re constantly working to improve detection and enforcement.
"We encourage anyone who sees content that might violate our policies to report it so we can investigate and take action.”
