Research reveals alarming trend of AI-manipulated social media content posing as Black female influencers to drive users to explicit websites, raising concerns
Instagram and TikTok are gaining traction with the growing trend of using social media users’ images and videos and manipulating them through AI to appear like black female influencers. TikTok has banned nearly 20 accounts after the BBC highlighted its use of AI-generated black female influencers to drive users to its website. Some of the video content on these accounts was based on content from existing users. This trend has been witnessed on several accounts on Instagram and TikTok.
This selfish pursuit has been criticized as racist and exploitative. An investigation led by researchers from the BBC and independent AI publication Riddance found dozens of accounts on TikTok and Instagram featuring highly sexualized AI-generated avatars and characters. Although these images and videos are generated by AI, they are not labeled as such and violate the platform’s guidelines.
Mr Mehta told the BBC he was looking into the matter. These avatars have had their skin color manipulated to give them an artificial appearance, and have been seen wearing skimpy swimsuits or revealing clothing.
The presence of such content on TikTok and Instagram has increased surprisingly. These accounts are circulating under common names such as Black, Noir, and Ebony. During its investigation, the BBC identified nearly 60 accounts, primarily on Instagram, that posted links to websites with sexually explicit content. These sites labeled the images as AI-generated, but these Instagram accounts did not have AI-generated labels.
real person videos
Investigation revealed that these accounts were manipulating videos and reels of real people on social media websites. These manipulated videos appeared as posts of AI-generated characters, and in some cases were able to amass nearly 3 million followers within weeks of their creation.
The investigation report revealed that these accounts used posts from a creator named Riya Ulan, a Malaysian-based model. In the video, her skin has been edited to appear abnormally black, and her clothing and background have also been recreated.
A number of videos taken from Riya’s account were edited to show her wearing revealing clothing. Additionally, links posted with the content lead to websites hosting obscene adult content. Since these avatars are based on real videos, they are difficult for users to differentiate across social media. User Riya told the BBC that she reported the accounts on both platforms.
Mehta said he is investigating what was brought to his attention. It also added that it has rules in place to label AI-generated content. Additionally, several accounts that hosted such content and violated the rules have already been banned.
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