{"id":24840,"date":"2026-09-12T12:38:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T10:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/12\/deepfakes-are-wrecking-influencers-credibility-one-fake-ad-at-a-time\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T12:38:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T10:38:06","slug":"deepfakes-are-wrecking-influencers-credibility-one-fake-ad-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/12\/deepfakes-are-wrecking-influencers-credibility-one-fake-ad-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Deepfakes are wrecking influencers\u2019 credibility, one fake ad at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Influencers aren\u2019t just battling competitors for brand deals. They\u2019re now battling AI versions of themselves<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Emily Schuman, the creator of the lifestyle blog Cupcakes and Cashmere, saw a photo of herself she didn\u2019t recognize on Instagram. In a sponsored ad, Schuman, who has more than 500,000 Instagram followers, is holding up a vial of GLP-1 drugs, advertising the telehealth company Gala. There was just one problem: Schuman had never heard of Gala and had nothing to do with the ad.<\/p>\n

The ad was based on a digitally altered version of a selfie Schuman had taken in her car and posted on Instagram years earlier. Once her followers got wind, they flooded her inbox with questions about the sponsorship as it didn\u2019t seem consistent with Schuman\u2019s personal brand. Soon after, Schuman discovered this was just the beginning. There was also an Instagram post where an AI version of her with darker hair appears to apply foundation to promote a makeup brand called Meroda Cosmetics, and TikTok posts with generated images of her promoting the blood testing company Superpower.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nInfluencers aren\u2019t just battling competitors for brand deals. They\u2019re now battling AI versions of themselves
\nEarlier this year, Emily Schuman, the creator of the lifestyle blog Cupcakes and Cashmere, saw a photo of herself she didn\u2019t recognize on Instagram. In a sponsored ad, Schuman, who has more than 500,000 Instagram followers, is holding up a vial of GLP-1 drugs, advertising the telehealth company Gala. There was just one problem: Schuman had never heard of Gala and had nothing to do with the ad.
\nThe ad was based on a digitally altered version of a selfie Schuman had taken in her car and posted on Instagram years earlier. Once her followers got wind, they flooded her inbox with questions about the sponsorship as it didn\u2019t seem consistent with Schuman\u2019s personal brand. Soon after, Schuman discovered this was just the beginning. There was also an Instagram post where an AI version of her with darker hair appears to apply foundation to promote a makeup brand called Meroda Cosmetics, and TikTok posts with generated images of her promoting the blood testing company Superpower. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Influencers aren\u2019t just battling competitors for brand deals. They\u2019re now battling AI versions of themselves Earlier this year, Emily Schuman, the creator of the lifestyle blog Cupcakes and Cashmere, saw a photo of herself she didn\u2019t recognize on Instagram. In a sponsored ad, Schuman, who has more than 500,000 Instagram followers, is holding up a …<\/p>\n

Deepfakes are wrecking influencers\u2019 credibility, one fake ad at a time<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":24841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24840"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}