Nigel Farage pressured to handle weird AI adverts displaying gun toting Reform chief combating Bank of England boss
Strange AI deepfakes of Nigel Farage posted on social media show the Reform UK leaders brandishing a gun and physically confronting the Governor of the Bank of England
Nigel Farage and Andrew Bailey have been deepfaked in bizarre new AI adverts(Image: x)
Nigel Farage and Andrew Bailey have been forced to speak out after they were featured in a series of bizarre AI adverts showing the Reform and Bank of England (BoE) leaders deepfaked into an ultra-violent confrontation.
Social media users on X, formerly Twitter, were left frustrated and confused this week after their timelines blew up with dozens of videos showing Farage descending on the BoE Governor in a heated exchange.
The AI-generated deepfake clip thumbnails variably showed the politician grabbing at Bailey, kicking him, and in one even brandishing a gun, with clickthroughs bringing users to a fake BBC webpage advertising an AI-led trading service.
Mr Farage has taken to the platform to address the “bizarre AI videos”, while annoyed members of the public have directly appealed to Elon Musk to deal with the issue as Mr Bailey hit out at an “online scourge”.
The adverts, which have been appearing on people’s X timelines relentlessly over the last week, are presented as playable video clips complete with a “play” button and posted by seemingly verified accounts with a brief caption like “what’s happened?”. But clicking on the image brings users to a fake BBC News article with a bizarre narrative detailing a showdown between the two figures about “the Bank of England’s elite secret”.
The page is a detailed ploy, complete with a faked BBC investigation, to get social media users to sign up to and hand money over to an AI investment platform, which the Mirror has chosen not to name.
Both Mr Farage and Mr Bailey addressed the links on Twitter this week, with Mr Farage striking a joking tone when speaking about the violent imagery. He said: “You may have seen some bizarre AI videos on this platform today. Whilst Andrew Bailey and I have our disagreements, I would never take it that far!”
BoE said it is aware of the posts, and has reported them to Elon Musk’s social media platform while also confirming it has informed Reform UK.
While he didn’t respond to the clips, Mr Bailey has previously hit out atscammers impersonating the BoE running “fake adverts” impersonating the institution. He said this week: “Unfortunately, fake adverts impersonating the Bank of England and other central banks are on the rise.
“These scams are designed to criminally exploit the public, especially the vulnerable, when they are online. I would urge everyone to stay vigilant and report these scams.”
“That way authorities can better root out digital deception like this and permanently remove the fraudsters responsible for what is a truly online scourge.” Social media users have also been left puzzled by the torrent of promotions, with some directly appealing to Elon Musk.
One said: “Every ad I’ve got on here lately has been an AI-generated Nigel Farage getting in increasingly bizzare situations on Question Time.”
Another user added: “This is just getting ridiculous now. Do the people generating this AI slop seriously expect people to believe that Nigel Farage pointed a loaded gun at Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, on live TV?!” They added: “This ridiculous slop needs to stop. Please invest in an improved ad approval process, @elonmusk.”
