TikTok creators masquerade as Spanish-language media to spread ID misinformation
🤥 Faked Up #39: Fake Telemundo and Univision scaremonger on TikTok; Kendall Jenner is the top of an elaborate diet pill scam; and deepfakes of the Trump-Zelensky debacle deceive divide.
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This newsletter is a ~ 5 minute read and contains 57 links.
NEWS
Billy McFarland is apparently giving his fraudulent Fyre Festival another shot. British police asked for freedom to share details on ongoing investigations to fight misinformation. The 'Epstein Files' were a nothingburger that disappointed conspiracy theorists. DOGE's math is all wrong. Even Truth Social users thought Trump's dehumanizing AI vision for Gaza was too much. Romanian judges opened a criminal investigation against former presidential candidate Calin Georgescu. Germany's Interior Ministry rejected allegations that foreign actors manipulated its recent election. Pinterest is awash in AI slop. Adam Mosseri toed the party line on fact-checking. Antivax activists blame vaccines for Texas' measles outbreak. Melania Trump endorsed the Take It Down Act.
TOP STORIES
Fake Telemundo and Univision scaremonger on TikTok
Spanish-language videos claiming that American supermarkets have started requiring IDs at checkout reached millions on TikTok. One such video warned that the requirement kicked in on February 28; in a clear effort to target undocumented immigrants, it adds that "your groceries might become your nightmare." Good Samaritans in the comment section write "I'll go get your families groceries not a problem."
The account pushing the video uses the logo of the Spanish-language network Telemundo to appear more reputable; another account was masquerading as Univision. The same exact script was read out loud by the creator hondumexicana504 in a video that got more than 250,000 views.
TikTok deleted the videos I shared with them on Tuesday under its misinformation policy. I could still find similar videos with fewer views on Wednesday morning.
Deepfake Kendall Jenner tops elaborate diet pill scheme
Last week, Kendall Jenner promised me $1,000 if I tried her miracle diet and did not lose weight.
Jenner's likeness is one of several celebrities being used to hawk "Brazilian Mounjaro," an allegedly miraculous drink that has people shedding weight while having waffles and bacon for breakfast and not working out. The product is named after an actual antidiabetic medication found to have weight loss benefits.
The YouTube ad I was served is just one of at least 600 run by a Brazilian scrubs supplier (I suspect their account have been hijacked). The advertiser has deleted many of its prior videos, presumably to avoid detection. Yet in the past week it also ran several videos with the same exact script featuring "Call Her Daddy" host Alex Cooper. She too promised me $1,000 to try the diet.
YouTube terminated the account under its policy prohibiting false endorsements from a public figure after I reached out.
The YouTube ads lead to a website with another nebulous video featuring Kelly Clarkson swearing by the diet (she actually took the real Mounjaro) and crediting a Doctor Diane Miller for sharing it with her. The recipe appears to be some combination of maqui berries, apple cider vinegar and baking soda. The website includes multiple "scientific references" that I was unable to corroborate.
This is much bigger than one YouTube advertiser. Searching for [Brazilian Mounjaro] on Search, YouTube and TikTok returns oodles of doctored videos pushing what is also occasionally called the "purple peel recipe." Several of these videos are clearly using AI avatars or dubbing unrelated videos with AI audio.
One of these accounts led me to believe this is all likely an affiliate marketing operation for a diet pill called Mitolyn. The pill's website is very similar to the one featuring Kelly Clarkson, albeit with an even more contrived video featuring its alleged creator Andrew Lambert.
This affiliate scheme is trying hard to reach folks. There are innumerable TikTok accounts entirely dedicated to the product with a link in bio that sends back to mitolyn[.]com. One YouTube account that typically posts translations of pop songs is posting dozens of promotional videos like this one.
And if we turn to Google Search, the takeover is complete. Take the result page for [mitolyn]: