WASHINGTON: Around two dozen YouTube channels are pumping out AI-generated videos with false claims about music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs's sex trafficking trial, racking up millions of views and profiting from misinformation, researchers say.
The flood of false content threatens to distort public perception of the musician's seven-week New York trial, where jurors were deliberating Tuesday to ascertain whether he acted as the ringleader of a criminal organisation that facilitated coercive sex marathons with escorts.
The sensational AI-driven channels have amassed nearly 70 million views from roughly 900 videos about Combs over the past year, according to data compiled by Indicator, a US publication investigating digital deception.
The videos typically feature AI-generated thumbnails showing celebrities on the witness stand alongside images of Combs, often paired with fabricated quotes.
One channel called Pak Gov Update uploaded a nearly 30-minute-long video titled Jay-Z Breaks His Silence on Diddy Controversy, which features a thumbnail of the American rapper.
The thumbnail shows Jay-Z breaking down in tears and holding up a CD above a fabricated quote: "I WILL BE DEAD SOON."
Pak Gov Update has uploaded similar videos with fake testimonies attributed to other celebrities such as the American comedian Kevin Hart and singer-songwriter Usher.
It began posting content about the closely watched trial in recent weeks. The channel previously posted Urdu content about Pakistan.
"Pak Gov Update is one of 26 YouTube channels identified by Indicator that have used a mix of false claims and AI slop to cash in on the Diddy trial," said Craig Silverman, co-founder of Indicator.
YouTube has "terminated several channels" among those highlighted by Indicator for "violating our terms of service and policies covering spam," the site's spokesman Jack Malon told AFP in a statement.
AI slop refers to often low-quality visual content – generated using cheap and widely available artificial intelligence tools – that increasingly appears to be flooding social media sites, blurring the lines between reality and fiction.
Many content creators on YouTube and TikTok offer paid courses on how to monetise viral AI slop on tech platforms, many of which have reduced their reliance on human fact-checkers and scaled back content moderation.
Combs, 55, faces life in prison if convicted on five federal charges that include racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation for purposes of prostitution.
Conspiracy theories and falsehoods surrounding his trial have flooded social media sites in recent weeks, threatening to shroud the facts and undermine real witnesses, experts say.
A song titled I Lost Myself at a Diddy Party and falsely attributed to Justin Bieber recently garnered millions of views across social media platforms, sparking a wave of conspiracy theories about the relationship between the two celebrities.
An audio clip of the song, which features lyrics about Bieber losing his innocence after attending a Combs party, was likely created using an AI tool, according to the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard.
Also gaining traction online was a manipulated image of Combs and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sitting next to US President Donald Trump on a couch with young women. – AFP
