Hundreds of AI-generated deepfake videos on TikTok and other platforms are impersonating doctors and health experts to promote unproven supplements, according to fact-checking organisation Full Fact. The videos manipulate real footage of medical professionals, making it appear they endorse products such as probiotics and Himalayan shilajit for menopause symptoms, often directing viewers to US-based Wellness Nest.
Liverpool University professor David Taylor-Robinson was among those targeted. His image was taken from a 2017 Public Health England conference talk and a 2024 parliamentary hearing, then manipulated to discuss a fabricated condition called 'thermometer leg'. In one video, the deepfake version of him even swore and made misogynistic comments. Duncan Selbie, former chief executive of PHE, was similarly impersonated using footage from the same event.
Taylor-Robinson said it took six weeks and a complaint to TikTok to get the videos removed. 'Initially, they said some videos violated their guidelines but some were fine. That was absurd – and weird – because I was in all of them and they were all deepfakes,' he told Full Fact. Leo Benedictus, the fact-checker who led the investigation, called it 'a sinister and worrying new tactic'.
Wellness Nest told Full Fact the deepfakes were '100% unaffiliated' with the company, adding it 'cannot control or monitor affiliates around the world'. Full Fact also found similar videos on X, Facebook and YouTube, including deepfakes of prominent figures such as Professor Tim Spector and the late Dr Michael Mosley.
Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Helen Morgan said: 'From fake doctors to bots that encourage suicide, AI is being used to prey on innocent people and exploit the widening cracks in our society.' The findings have renewed calls for social media platforms to act faster against AI-generated content that distorts the views of respected individuals.
