Celebrities are calling out deepfake scams

In most cases, an offer to buy an iPhone 15 Pro for just $2 would carry more red flags than a Soviet Union embassy – but coming from MrBeast, it might actually be believable.

Alas, the YouTube creator this week revealed a TikTok ad that appears to show MrBeast offering people brand-new iPhones for pennies on the dollar was actually a deepfake video that evaded the platform’s filters.

And it’s not the only celebrity deepfake that has popped up recently on social media:

• Tom Hanks on Sunday said he had nothing to do with a computer-generated video of himself "promoting some dental plan."
• The following day, Gayle King made a similar post saying her voice and video were manipulated to make it seem like she was endorsing a product that she isn’t associated with.
• Elon Musk has been the subject of at least 50 deepfake video scams across Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok dating back to late August.

Deepfake videos are generally allowed under social media platforms’ terms of service, though some sites require the content to be labeled as such. Virtually all platforms ban the use of deepfakes for misleading purposes.

🏛️🗳️ On Capitol Hill: While Congress hasn’t approved any federal legislation regarding deepfakes, regulators at the Federal Election Commission are currently considering a measure that would ban political campaigns from distributing fake audio, video, or images of their opponents ahead of the 2024 election.