Meta's Political Ads Platform Exploited by Scammers Using Deepfakes
Scammers are exploiting Meta's political advertising platforms to promote fake government benefits using deepfake videos of American politicians. Despite Meta's policies against scams and investments in prevention, these ads continue to reach users.
One such advertiser, the Relief Eligibility Center, ran an ad featuring a deepfake video of former President Donald Trump falsely promising stimulus cheques to Americans. This ad, along with others promoting fake stimulus cheques, government spending cards, and healthcare payments, targeted seniors in more than 20 US states.
Professional fact-checkers have long warned about bogus stimulus cheque offers circulating on social media platforms. The number of American adults experiencing internet scams or impersonation attacks has grown significantly since 2020, with a four-fold increase in complaints from older adults losing $10,000 or more.
Meta has removed ads from 63 scam advertisers within the past 12 months for violating its policies. However, nearly half of these advertisers continued to advertise as of Tuesday. One group, which has published over 150,000 political ads on Meta platforms in the last year, continued advertising despite being shut down for policy violations.
Scammers are taking advantage of advances in AI technology, public confusion around social safety net programs, and lax Meta content moderation to target new victims. Meta must strengthen its content moderation and enforcement to protect users, especially seniors, from these deceptive ads.
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