The Growing Crisis of Digital Impersonation
Emily Schuman, the creator behind the lifestyle blog Cupcakes and Cashmere, recently encountered a version of herself on Instagram she did not authorize. The sponsored advertisement showed Schuman holding a vial of GLP-1 drugs for a telehealth brand called Gala. Schuman had never entered a business agreement with the company. The advertisement relied on a digitally altered selfie she had posted to her account years prior. This instance is one of several similar occurrences, including AI-generated videos of her applying foundation for a makeup brand and posts linking her image to blood testing services.
Generative AI tools make it simple to produce synthetic media that mimics the likeness of real people. Influencers represent primary targets for these scams because their online presence provides vast libraries of images and video for training AI models. This trend creates a professional threat for creators who depend on their reputation to secure legitimate partnerships. When an unauthorized deepfake appears, it creates a conflict between the creator and their audience, often damaging the trust that serves as the foundation of their business.
The Financial and Reputational Toll
Alice Marwick, the director of research at the Data & Society Research Institute, notes that a creator's brand functions as their primary business asset. If that brand suffers, their income suffers as well. Impersonation schemes now range from fraudulent cryptocurrency promotions to brands using stolen images for unauthorized advertising. Research from the security firm Surfshark suggests that global consumers lost approximately $3.7 billion to deepfake scams in 2026. Social media impersonations accounted for half of those losses.
The industry is also shifting toward AI-generated marketing content. Marketing consultancy Digital Applied found that virtual influencers represented $1.37 billion in brand spending during 2026. While virtual influencers offer low-cost, customizable alternatives for brands, some companies bypass ethical boundaries by using unauthorized likenesses of real people. This practice threatens the credibility of the entire influencer marketing sector, as followers may struggle to distinguish between genuine recommendations and synthetic fabrications.
Legal and Platform Challenges
Molly Tranchin, a fashion influencer with 500,000 followers, filed a lawsuit against the underwear brand Eby earlier this year. The lawsuit alleges that Eby replaced the videos Tranchin submitted for a marketing campaign with a deepfake video that featured her in a pose she had not approved. Tranchin initially sought legal action to hold the brand accountable for the misrepresentation. She later dropped the lawsuit due to jurisdictional issues but intends to pursue the matter in a different court. Eby stated that they intend to address the claims through the legal process.
Platforms such as Meta and TikTok prohibit digital identity theft, but enforcement remains inconsistent. Schuman spent weeks reporting fraudulent ads to Meta with mixed results. Some ads remained active despite her repeated attempts to have them removed. Critics argue that social media platforms lack strong incentives to purge these scams, as fraudulent ads generate significant revenue. A 2025 investigation from Reuters indicated that Meta earned roughly $10 billion from ads linked to scams or banned goods. As long as these platforms profit from malicious advertising, creators will continue to bear the burden of protecting their own digital identity.