Oversight Board Slams Meta For Letting Celebrity Deepfakes Slip Through

The Meta Oversight Board overturned the company’s decision to keep up an AI-generated video that falsely showed footballer Ronaldo Nazário endorsing an online game he wasn’t involved with.

Posted in September last year, the deepfake misled users by promoting a play-to-earn game, but the link redirected them to a different game.

A user complaint was ignored, and the post stayed up until the case reached the board.

Meta had removed the video’s ad version for violating its Unacceptable Business Practices policy, but the original post remained until later action.

The board criticised Meta’s inconsistent enforcement around fake celebrity endorsements and called for stronger policies to address AI deepfakes and prevent user deception.