Social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook, and X are being used to host hundreds of AI-generated deepfake videos featuring manipulated versions of real doctors and health experts, an investigation has found. The doctored clips are being used to spread health misinformation and sell unproven dietary supplements, primarily targeting women experiencing menopause.
How the Deepfake Scam Operates
The fact-checking organisation Full Fact uncovered the widespread operation, publishing its findings on Friday. The investigation, led by factchecker Leo Benedictus, identified a pattern where real footage of medical professionals and influencers was taken from the internet. Using artificial intelligence, the creators altered the video and audio to make it appear the individuals were endorsing products from a US-based supplements firm called Wellness Nest.
"This is certainly a sinister and worrying new tactic," said Benedictus. He explained that the creators deploy AI so that "someone well-respected or with a big audience appears to be endorsing these supplements to treat a range of ailments." The deepfakes promote items like probiotics and Himalayan shilajit, claiming they can alleviate menopausal symptoms.
Prominent Experts Among the Victims
Among those impersonated is Professor David Taylor-Robinson, a public health and inequalities expert at Liverpool University. In August, he discovered 14 doctored videos on TikTok falsely showing him recommending Wellness Nest products. Despite his specialism being children's health, one deepfake depicted a cloned version of him discussing a fabricated menopause symptom called "thermometer leg."
"It was really confusing to begin with – all quite surreal," Taylor-Robinson said. "I didn't feel desperately violated, but I did become more and more irritated at the idea of people selling products off the back of my work and the health misinformation involved." The original footage was taken from a 2017 Public Health England conference and a 2023 parliamentary hearing on child poverty.
Another victim is Duncan Selbie, the former chief executive of Public Health England. Full Fact found eight deepfakes of Selbie, also manipulated to discuss menopause using video from the same 2017 event. Selbie described one imitation as "amazing" but stressed it was "a complete fake from beginning to end."
Platform Response and Political Calls for Action
TikTok removed the videos featuring Taylor-Robinson and Selbie, but only six weeks after the professor complained. Taylor-Robinson noted the initial response was inconsistent, with the platform claiming some videos did not violate guidelines. "It was a faff to get them taken down," he said.
The Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, Helen Morgan, has called for stronger measures. "If these were individuals fraudulently pretending to be doctors they would face criminal prosecution. Why is the digital equivalent being tolerated?" she said. Morgan advocated for clinically approved tools to be promoted and for criminal liability for those profiting from medical disinformation.
In a statement, a TikTok spokesperson said: "We have removed this content for breaking our rules against harmful misinformation and behaviours that seek to mislead our community, such as impersonation. Harmfully misleading AI-generated content is an industry-wide challenge."
Wellness Nest told Full Fact that the deepfake videos were "100% unaffiliated" with its business and that it has "never used AI-generated content," but added it "cannot control or monitor affiliates around the world."
The investigation also found similar deepfakes on X, Facebook, and YouTube linked to Wellness Nest or a related UK outlet. Other high-profile doctors impersonated include Professor Tim Spector and the late Dr Michael Mosley.
