Fake ads are hijacking real influencers' faces, and their followers have no idea
AI-generated images of real creators are turning up in sponsored posts for brands they have never heard of. The people whose faces are being used have no say in it.
Key points
- Emily Schuman, a lifestyle influencer with more than 500,000 Instagram followers, found at least three fake sponsored posts using AI-altered images of her face in early 2025.
- The ads promoted a telehealth company, a makeup brand, and a blood-testing service she had no connection to.
- One fake image was built by digitally altering a selfie Schuman had posted on Instagram years earlier.
- Schuman's followers saw the ads first and flooded her inbox with questions, believing the sponsorships were real.
Earlier this year, Emily Schuman was scrolling Instagram when she spotted a photo of herself she had never taken.
She was holding up a small vial, apparently endorsing a telehealth company called Gala, which offers GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs. She'd never contacted Gala, never agreed to promote them. The image had been made by taking a selfie she'd posted from her car years earlier and digitally altering it, a deepfake technique where AI software manipulates a real photo to place a person in a situation that never happened.
That wasn't the end of it. Once her 500,000 followers spotted the post and flooded her inbox, Schuman kept digging. She found a second Instagram post where an AI version of her with noticeably darker hair appears to apply foundation for a makeup brand called Meroda Cosmetics. Then TikTok posts using generated images of her face to promote Superpower, a blood-testing company. Three brands, none with her permission, all spending her credibility without paying a cent of it back.
Why should ordinary people care about this?
If you follow an influencer and trust their recommendations, a fake ad could send you toward a product that person has never tested or vetted.
That's the practical sting. Schuman's followers thought she was personally endorsing a GLP-1 telehealth service. Some may have signed up on the strength of that trust. The influencer's credibility is what makes the ad convincing, and it gets spent whether she agreed to it or not.
Schuman's brand is built on a carefully curated lifestyle image. A fake post for a weight-loss drug sits awkwardly against that, which is why her followers flagged it. But not every follower notices the mismatch. Many simply believe what they see.
This is the pattern: bad actors take a public photo, run it through AI editing tools, and build a convincing sponsored post. The influencer gets none of the money and all of the reputational risk. AI2Day has been tracking this erosion of trust in AI-generated imagery since we first covered the beat on 27 July 2026, and the Schuman case fits a pattern we've reported on repeatedly, including Meta running ads for a deepfake tool that targeted politicians.
What can followers do right now?
Before acting on a sponsored recommendation, check the creator's own feed and stories. Genuine paid partnerships almost always appear in the creator's own voice, not just as a solitary ad.
A sponsored post that never gets mentioned by the creator elsewhere is worth treating with scepticism. Search their handle alongside the brand name. If nothing comes up except the ad, something's probably wrong.
AI image tools are cheap and widely available. Creators with public photo libraries are sitting targets, and platforms have been slow to build reliable detection. Schuman's case won't be the last.
The thing to watch here isn't the individual brands caught doing this. It's whether platforms build meaningful enforcement before the tactic becomes so routine that followers stop trusting any sponsored content at all. That's the real damage, and it compounds quietly.
Common questions
Can the influencer sue the company that ran the ad?
Potentially yes, under existing laws around image rights and false endorsement, but enforcement is slow and many companies placing these ads are difficult to trace or are based abroad.
How do I tell if a sponsored post is a deepfake?
Look closely at skin texture, hair edges, and finger joints, where AI editing most often leaves subtle errors. Then check whether the creator has mentioned the brand anywhere else on their own profile.
