Deepfake Political Ads Surge on Meta Platforms, Raising Scam Concerns

Deepfake political scam ads surge on Meta platforms, watchdog says

Washington (AFP) - Scammers are among the top political ad spenders on Meta's platforms, using deepfake videos of American politicians -- including President Donald Trump -- to promote fake government benefits, a watchdog group said Wednesday. The nonprofit Tech Transparency Project said it identified 63 scam advertisers that collectively spent $49 million on Facebook and Instagram, often targeting seniors with ads promoting fake stimulus checks, government spending cards and healthcare payments. The ads have reached tens of thousands of the platforms' users. "The findings show how scammers are taking advantage of advances in artificial intelligence technology, public confusion around the status of social safety net programs, and lax Meta content moderation to target new victims," TTP said in a report. "Meta is allowing this activity even though it prohibits scams and says it invests in scam prevention to keep users safe," it added. Meta did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment. TTP's report quoted a Meta statement saying that the company would "invest in building new technical defenses" as scammers "constantly evolve their tactics to try to evade detection." According to Meta's rules, advertisers who seek to run political ads in the United States have to undergo a special authorization process, which involves submitting an official ID such as a driver's license along with a US mailing address. TTP said all of the 63 scam advertisers -- who accounted for over 150,600 political ads -- had their advertisements removed by Meta within the past 12 months for violating the tech giant's policies. Still, nearly half of them continued to advertise as of Tuesday. Meta appeared to disable 35 ad accounts, but only after they ran dozens -- and in some cases hundreds -- of ads. Six of the accounts spent over $1 million before they were disabled or deleted, the report said. One advertiser identified by TTP -- called the Relief Eligibility Center -- - ran an ad on Meta platforms in April and May featuring a deepfake video of Trump falsely promising stimulus checks to Americans. The video matched a speech by Trump in the White House's Rose Garden in early April, but TTP found that the words in the ad did not match the official transcript from the event. The ad, which directed users to a website to get a "FREE $5,000 Check from Trump," appeared to target men and women over the age of 65 in more than 20 US states, TTP said. For years, professional fact-checkers have warned about bogus stimulus check offers circulating on social media platforms. The latest findings underscore the explosion of online fraud, with surveys showing a growing number of American adults experiencing internet scams or impersonation attacks. In August, the Federal Trade Commission reported a more than four-fold increase since 2020 in complaints from older adults who lost $10,000 or more -- sometimes their entire life savings -- to scammers impersonating trusted government agencies or businesses.

Deepfakes flood Facebook political ads, turning the platform into a goldmine for scammers

Facebook's political ad space is increasingly a playground for deepfake scams and deceptive content, with some of the platform's top advertisers fabricating videos of United States politicians promising nonexistent government payouts. This summer, altered videos of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Americans could claim $5,000 relief checks, redirecting users to a site called Get Covered Today. Similar fake videos depicted Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders making identical promises. "This is not a gimmick," Warren's impersonation stated, though in reality, it was. According to a new report by the Tech Transparency Project (via The New York Times), 63 advertisers using such deceptive tactics accounted for roughly one in five of Facebook's top 300 political ad spenders. Together, they ran nearly 150,000 ads, spending almost $49 million over the last seven years. While many of these accounts have been suspended, more than half continued posting new ads as recently as this week. "The only thing worse than these deepfake AI videos being used to scam Americans is the fact that Meta makes tens of millions of dollars off those scam ads," Senator Warren said, calling for stricter consumer protections online. Meta, which owns Facebook, prohibits ads that impersonate officials or employ deceptive practices, claiming to enforce these rules "vigorously" and promising investment in technical defenses. Yet critics say the company's enforcement is slow, largely automated, and reactive, relying on users or researchers to flag scams. The rise of AI tools has made creating deceptive ads easier, and social media platforms are now the primary vector for online fraud, surpassing phone or text scams. Federal regulators and governments, including Singapore, are pressuring Meta to crack down, threatening fines if the platform does not act. As ad revenue for Meta approaches $160 billion annually, the Tech Transparency Project's analysis suggests that short-term profit often takes precedence over platform integrity and user safety. "The pendulum has swung toward more short-term revenue considerations versus the long-term health of the platform," said Rob Leathern, former Meta employee and online trust expert. "Perhaps at some point it has to swing the other way."