Revealed: The Facebook pages using AI to promote fake stories about politicians

Dressed in a suit and boots, Nigel Farage can be seen crouching on a step and gently petting an adorable dog wearing a blue cape.

The photo, posted on Facebook, is accompanied by a heartwarming story of how Reform UK leader and partner Laure Ferrari heroically rescued 47 dogs after purchasing an entire shelter on the brink of closure.

It reads: “Forty-seven lives saved. No spotlight. Just the heart.”

The viral post has nearly 4,000 comments, one of which reads: “Nigel will boost his credibility on this political front.” Another commented: “Many people will vote for a person who shows compassion for animals.”

But the story is not true and the picture is not real either.

In fact, this post is just one of the fake content created by artificial intelligence that has filled social media in recent weeks.

Experts say the posts are part of a new trend offering fake “good news” stories about high-profile people in a bid to “weaponise empathy” and increase engagement.

Researchers from charity Full Fact uncovered nearly 100 similar posts from various accounts. In total, the posts sparked more than 380,000 reactions; This suggests that many are falling for false narratives that they say are “spreading on an industrial scale.”

Another example includes a story claiming Mr Farage donated millions to open homeless support centers across the City. Another post claimed he rescued abandoned twin babies and left his first-class plane seat to a military veteran.

Former prime minister Rishi Sunak was also the focus of a post, falsely claiming he was recovering in hospital. Restore Britain leader and MP Rupert Lowe and Reform home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf are also targets of fake posts.

Full Fact also revealed that while many of the pages have UK mentions, such as ‘Britain Awakens’, ‘British Affairs Review’ and ‘Political Brief UK’, most are run by profiles that appear to be based in Vietnam.

There is no suggestion that any of the pages are associated with Reform UK or Mr Farage.

Accounts were closed when reported to Meta. But Steve Nowottny, editor of Full Fact, warned that AI tools were making it “easier than ever for fictional nonsense to emerge.”

“What’s notable about these posts is that they present fake ‘good news’ stories, leveraging empathy and positivity rather than anger to increase engagement,” he said.

“The fact that the posts we saw received hundreds of thousands of reactions shows that many people fell for these false narratives.

Accessible AI tools are making it easier than ever to disseminate fictional content on an industrial scale, potentially allowing creators to profit as a result.

“So, while it is welcome that Meta has taken action against the accounts we have identified, we cannot simply play whack-a-mole with misinformation; we need sustained action from social media companies to ensure smarter identification of AI content.”

A spokesperson for Meta said: “We have clear community standards that prohibit harmful misinformation and false behavior, and we removed these accounts for violating our policies.”

It’s unclear who is behind the pages, but The Full Truth found that nearly 10 of the 11 pages found to be sharing fake stories were run by at least one account based in Vietnam, sometimes with an account from another country such as the United States or Hong Kong.

Sam Stockwell, a senior research fellow at the Alan Turing Institute’s Center for Emerging Technology and Security, said the posts “weaponized empathy rather than hatred.”

“Creators abroad are now using AI to create heartwarming parodies, knowing that social media algorithms prioritize content that triggers strong emotional responses,” he said.

Professor Martin Innes, co-director of Cardiff University’s Crime and Security Research Institute, said he had seen creators “spreading” misleading posts “on a massive scale” and often monetizing this.

“Where this type of visual disinformation and distortion used to receive a fair amount of input, that is no longer the case,” he said. “And as for the emotional registers they engage, it’s just a way of securing views within a noisy and cluttered attention pattern.”

Independent Reform UK was contacted by a spokesperson who told Full Fact that the claims in the posts were false and stressed that the party was not affiliated with any of the pages.