TikTok has banned a series of weight-loss commercials.
TikTok has banned a company for pretending to be Boots on the video-sharing app.
The platform has banned the company after it was found to have been posting fake adverts for weight loss drugs.
Speaking to the BBC, AI expert Sam Gregory explained: “AI now makes it trivially easy to generate a convincing series of videos or images showing an apparent change in a plausibly real generic health professional, or to impersonate specific health professionals wholesale.
“The underlying question is how quickly and comprehensively platforms act when they detect – or are notified of – scams that clearly breach their terms of service.
“Major brands like Boots will get prioritised over an individual business owner who’s been targeted.”
Meanwhile, the MHRA, the UK body that ensures medicines are safe, has warned consumers about buying counterfeit products.
A spokesperson for the organisation told the BBC that weight loss medicines “should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a prescription issued by a healthcare professional”.
The spokesperson added: “Taking these medicines sourced in any other way carries serious risks to your health with no guarantees about what they contain.”
TikTok bans fake weight-loss adverts
