Consumer rights champion Which? has called on the Government to make sure regulator Ofcom takes action against tech firms failing to block scams
Realistic deepfakes are exposing people to “the mercy of scammers”, a consumer group warns. An experiment by Which? found hundreds of adults were unable to identify the AI content of digitally manipulated content known as deepfakes.
The consumer rights company has called on the Government to ensure regulator Ofcom can take action against tech firms failing to block scams.
Two AI deepfake videos and two real ones were shown to a survey of 514 adults as part of the Which? study. Participants watched a random selection of three of the four videos and were asked to identify the real footage.
Seven in 10 failed to correctly determine all the real and fake videos shown to them. The study also showed 8% got them all wrong and 21% were only able to correctly identify one.
One of the deepfake videos featured Boots staff advertising an unlicensed weight loss product. The health and beauty retailer said: “These adverts are fake and we urge customers to be vigilant.
“We proactively monitor for this type of content on social media and report any we identify to the platform owners and request that they are urgently removed.”
The videos were also shown to experts at Kingston University who also failed to correctly identify all the content.
Rocio Concha, of Which?, said: “Our investigation into deepfakes on social media shows the public – and even experts – are increasingly at the mercy of scammers exploiting inadequate security on social media platforms.
“This is troubling as we believe the tech giants who profit from scams on their platforms will not take enough action against fraudsters unless they are legally compelled to do so.”
She called on Ofcom to “stop kicking the can down the road” and urgently implement the Online Safety Act’s measures on fraudulent advertising.
The Government said: “Scammers who trick people into parting with their money are committing a criminal offence and should expect to be punished.
“This Government is backing words with action, delivering £79 million this year to tackle fraud head-on. We’ve published a Fraud Strategy to protect consumers and disrupt criminal networks. But platforms also have a responsibility to ensure their sites are not providing a forum for material intended to scam the public.
“Under the Online Safety Act, services that allow users to upload content or interact with others, including social media platforms, must proactively tackle illegal fraudulent content.
“This includes fraud by false representation and scam ads, whether shared or generated by users – or face consequences.”