The Surprising Journey of an AI Deepfake Ad Featuring MrBeast on TikTok

AI deepfakes are advancing rapidly, and in a recent incident, a counterfeit advertisement featuring MrBeast managed to bypass TikTok’s ad moderation system and appeared on the platform. In this misleading ad, the highly influential creator seemed to offer 10,000 lucky viewers an iPhone 15 Pro for just $2. Typically, this would ring alarm bells for a scam, but given MrBeast's reputation, it might actually seem plausible to some.

MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is a 25-year-old YouTube sensation with more subscribers than any other individual on the platform. He rose to fame through outrageous stunt videos where he gifts people free homes, cars, and other high-value prizes—often with the condition that they appear in his videos. Recently, he has taken it a step further by inviting contestants from “every country on Earth” to compete for a staggering $250,000 in a series of Olympic-style mini-games.

For those who might not be familiar with identifying scams, it’s feasible that someone could encounter this deepfake ad late at night while scrolling through TikTok and mistakenly believe that MrBeast would actually spend $20,000 on 10,000 iPhones for giveaways, especially since he previously has gifted iPhones to unsuspecting trick-or-treaters.

To be fair, this context might help explain how the deepfake ad slipped through TikTok's approval process. TikTok employs a combination of human reviewers and AI technology to manage ad submissions. In this instance, TikTok’s AI was pitted against the AI responsible for creating the MrBeast deepfake—and unfortunately, it fell short.

TikTok informed that it removed the ad just hours after it was posted due to violations of its advertising policies. While TikTok allows the use of synthetic or manipulated media in advertisements, it mandates that advertisers clearly disclose when such technology is employed.

TikTok is not the only platform leveraging AI for ad moderation. Meta, too, primarily relies on automated technology but complements it with human reviewers to train its AI and occasionally conduct manual ad assessments.

Deceptive deepfakes are increasingly common, and as AI technology becomes more accessible, even internet-famous personalities like MrBeast are not immune to being imitated. This week, actor Tom Hanks and CBS anchor Gayle King alerted their audiences about deepfake scams falsely featuring them in misleading advertisements. “BEWARE!!” Hanks cautioned on Instagram. “There’s a video promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me. I have nothing to do with it.”

The FTC has issued warnings concerning deepfake marketing, but regulating this practice at scale has proven challenging. With upcoming global elections, the impact of these deceptive advertisements could have serious implications.

How will AI-generated images influence elections? The risks posed by deepfakes have prompted the EU to call for stronger generative AI regulations.