There are urgent warnings to the public after deepfake videos have surfaced online of trusted doctors and celebrities peddling “snake oil” supplements to consumers.

The siren sounded when fake videos emerged online of trusted clinicians, including Dr Norman Swan, Professor Jonathan Shaw and former Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Professor Kerryn Phelps, selling dietary supplements online.

One video depicts a fake Professor Shaw advertising a dietary supplement as a supposed treatment for type 2 diabetes.

In another video, a deepfake Dr Swan says scientific evidence is “stupid” while trying to sell weight loss products aimed at treating heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

The videos were produced by Deepfake technology to mimic trusted doctors’ faces and voices in an attempt to sell unproven products to the Australian public, AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen said.

“We are now living in an age where any video that appears online has to be questioned — is it real, or is it a deepfake?” McMullen said.

“Deepfake videos are becoming more and more convincing, and this technology is being exploited by dodgy companies peddling snake oil to vulnerable people who are dealing with serious health issues.”

The medical association has partially blamed Meta for the trend, saying the content was exacerbated by weakened content moderation on major social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Meta changed its content moderation policy in January 2025.

“While no specific complaint figures have been released, misinformation and harmful content on Meta’s platforms have been widely reported to have increased since this policy change,” a letter from the AMA to the Minister for Communications reads.

“My attempts to get Meta to take down deepfake imaging has been futile.”

The AMA is pushing the federal government to do something about the “deeply concerning” trend.

The scam-like trend has also used deepfake videos of singer Adele and Australian actor Rebel Wilson to sell similar products. 

Several recommendations have been made to the government to curb the snakeoil salesmen’s tactics, including mandatory identification of the company responsible for videos promoting medical products, a portal for the public to report suspected deep fake videos, time-bound takedown requests to make companies take videos down when a complaint is lodged and appropriate encorfcement powers to fine companies found to be peddling medical products with deepfakes.