Ukrainian YouTuber finds deepfakes of herself on Chinese social media, claims they're being used to promote propaganda

Olga Loiek, a Ukrainian YouTuber, was “infuriated” and “horrified” when she came across videos of “herself” on Chinese social media platforms. The videos actually don’t show her but her deepfakes. In a video, Loiek claimed that most of her AI clones have the same “propaganda narratives” that talk about “strengthening the relationship between Russia and China”.

“It is one thing to see funny deepfakes in Instagram Reels, and it is another to receive a message saying that your face has been reused for propaganda purposes in China... It has been difficult to paint the picture of what's happening and I wanted to share this story with you — please stay informed as we enter the age of AI-generated content,” Loiek wrote along with her video on YouTube.

Also Read: Deepfake scammers impersonate executives in video call, dupe company of $26m

In the clip, Loiek says that she came to know about the existence of her “army of clones'' after receiving messages from her YouTube followers. When she dug deeper, she was “horrified” to see that her face was being used in AI-generated videos to sell Russian items in China.

She goes on to say that it is “hard” for her to see the "propaganda narratives" as she is from Ukraine and the videos are all about "Sino-Russian friendship”. One of the profiles using her AI clone also uploaded videos inquiring if Chinese men would want to marry a Russian woman.

Loiek investigated further to find she is not the only one whose face is being used for uploading videos on Chinese social media. She also came across another person from Sweden whose fake AI videos are being circulated with the claims that “she wants to stay in China” and “wants to marry a Chinese man”.

Check out the entire video where Olga Loiek talks about how such deepfake AI models can lead to criminal activities.

The video was shared in January. Since then, the clip has collected more than 76,000 views. The share has further accumulated tons of comments.

What did YouTube users say about this video on AI clones?

“As a Chinese person, I am very angry that someone has done such a thing. I will file a complaint on relevant websites to let more people know that they have been deceived,” expressed a YouTube user.

“Wow, terrifying. Mainly because of the possibilities and harm it potentially can do to someone,” added another.

Also Read: Trust in the digital world during the time of deepfakes

“Your video was uploaded to China and it is very popular in China, but many people do not know the real facts. As a Chinese, I am very sorry for your situation,” joined a third.

“As a Chinese, I am deeply sorry for what you are experiencing. I recommend reporting this issue to the platform, Bibili in this case. The infringers are likely to have their accounts suspended and lose their followers,” suggested a fourth. To this, Olga Loiek wrote, “This is a good idea, but it's been around 2 weeks since I reported all of them, and unfortunately all of the fakes are still online... Not sure how long this process is”.