Deepfake political scam ads surge on Meta platforms

WASHINGTON:

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 (TTP) 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.

A Meta statement said the company strictly prohibits deceptive ads and seeks to "continually invest in building new technical defenses to strengthen our detection" 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.