Fake news YouTube creators target Black celebrities with AI-generated misinformation
YouTube videos using a mix of artificial intelligence-generated and manipulated media to create fake content have flooded the platform with salacious disinformation about dozens of Black celebrities, including rapper and record executive Sean “Diddy” Combs, TV host Steve Harvey, actor Denzel Washington and Bishop T.D. Jakes.
Many of the video titles and voiceovers have pushed fake narratives that stem from recent rape and sex trafficking lawsuits against Combs, including a high-profile case settled between him and entertainer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. Other videos have implicated figures like Jakes in the allegations against Combs without evidence and used manipulated media to depict the celebrities engaging in lewd acts and exaggerated displays of emotion in video thumbnails.
NBC News reviewed a dozen YouTube channels posting what appears to be AI-generated fake news content about Black celebrities. Many of the videos it reviewed are clickbait, meaning the YouTube video titles and thumbnails indicate narratives or allegations that aren’t in the videos themselves. Some of the videos have millions of views, and the median number of combined views for each channel was 21 million.
The flood of manipulated and AI-generated fake content on YouTube coincides with its parent company Google’s forays into generative AI technology, as well as rising fears about disinformation efforts targeting 2024 elections around the globe. YouTube announced in November that it plans to enforce a new policy requiring labels for synthetic and manipulated media in videos. That system isn’t yet in place.
