5 days ago

Jamie RyanBBC Social News

Fake adverts for weight loss drugs by a company pretending to be health and beauty retailer Boots have been removed from TikTok after the firm complained.

The adverts for prescription-only weight loss drugs appeared to show smiling healthcare professionals from the British retailer - but in reality they were made with AI.

It is illegal to advertise prescription-only weight loss drugs to the public.

A spokesperson for Boots told the BBC the firm was "aware" of the videos and had complained to TikTok, which said it had removed the videos.

A TikTok spokesperson said it did not allow "harmful or misleading AI-generated ads" on its platform.

But the BBC found while the videos were removed, the account - seemingly located in Hong Kong - was not.

It was able to re-upload the exact same videos despite the originals being removed.

TikTok was again notified of this, and the user was subsequently deleted.

Weight-loss jabs have been available on the NHS in England since the end of June, but they are not available over-the-counter and patients must meet strict criteria in order to be eligible for a prescription.

Before the fake Boots account was removed, its videos linked to a website where weight loss drugs could be bought.

It featured testimonies from customers and doctors which were either made with AI or taken from other websites.

The TikTok videos showed what appeared to be health workers drinking from a vial of blue liquid.

This would then appear to jump forward several months, with the workers apparently having lost a drastic amount of weight.

"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," AI expert Sam Gregory told the BBC.

"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."

Other videos uploaded by the same account on TikTok seemed to have used content originally posted by real people, showcasing their weight-loss journey, but repurposed and used without permission.

All of the videos used similar branding and names to that of the official Boots account on TikTok - using the handle "@BootsOfficial".

Boots said it only runs adverts on social media through its actual account @BootsUK.

The website also included warnings from the MHRA, the UK's governmental body that ensures medicines and medical devices are safe, about purchasing counterfeit products.

A spokesperson for the body told the BBC weight loss medicines "should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a prescription issued by a healthcare professional".

"Taking these medicines sourced in any other way carries serious risks to your health with no guarantees about what they contain," they said.

TikTok said it would continue to "strengthen" its detection methods for AI-generated content and it does not allow "the depiction, promotion, or trade of controlled substances".