The Bank of England is pushing Elon Musk’s X to crack down on deepfake adverts showing Andrew Bailey fighting Nigel Farage.
A raft of AI-generated adverts have sprung up on the social media platform in recent days falsely showing the Bank of England governor in conflict with the Reform UK leader on the set of BBC’s Question Time .
Mr Bailey said the AI deepfakes were linked to scams “designed to criminally exploit the public” and were an “online scourge”. Staff at Threadneedle Street have been reporting the adverts to X for removal, and Mr Bailey urged other users to do the same.
Headlines in these “news” stories include: “How Nigel Farage Exposed the Bank of England’s Elite Secret Live on Television.”
The AI-generated images show Mr Bailey and Mr Farage in physical confrontations, often being separated by policemen. In one example, Mr Farage can even be seen holding a gun.
The fake stories claim to report on a Question Time episode in which Mr Farage clashed with Mr Bailey. In one, Mr Bailey is said to storm off the set after a “full-blown confrontation”. Mr Bailey has never appeared on Question Time.
The governor warned that fake adverts impersonating the Bank of England were on the rise.
Mr Bailey said: “These scams are designed to criminally exploit the public, especially the vulnerable, when they are online.
“I would urge everyone to stay vigilant and report these scams. That way authorities can better root out digital deception like this and permanently remove the fraudsters responsible for what is a truly online scourge.”
Cyber-security experts have previously found similar investment scams using the likeness of the Bank governor on .
“This is a global, coordinated investment scam ecosystem,” analysts at Bitdefender said. They said the network appeared tied to Russian-language criminal scammers pursuing “financially motivated criminal activity”.
A spokesman for Bitdefender said its researchers were “confident that it is highly likely the X campaign” was part of the same scam network it uncovered on .
Bitdefender said fraudsters used a number of techniques to hide from the ad security systems of Meta , the owner of .
Mr Musk has been accused of gutting X’s safety teams since his takeover. The billionaire cut 80pc of X’s overall headcount after he bought Twitter in 2022, dramatically reducing the number of staff focused on moderation and security.
Like the scam adverts with Mr Bailey, the AI-generated posts appeared to show Mr Stournaras engaging in debates and heated arguments on a TV show.
The National Bank of Belgium also warned in February that scammers were impersonating the central bank and Pierre Wunsch, its governor. The articles contained links to websites recommending certain cryptocurrencies.
A spokesman for the Advertising Standards Authority, which regulates adverts on TV, radio and online in the UK, said: “We’ve seen a continuing trend in scammers using fake celebrity stories and endorsements, increasingly relying on convincing AI-generated images and deepfake videos.”
The watchdog said there had been a rise in scammers posing as public figures, such as Sir Keir Starmer, Naga Munchetty , the BBC newsreader, and Dr Hilary Jones, the GP and broadcaster.
The watchdog has previously warned that a lack of enforcement often means that fake adverts remain online for days before being removed.
Mr Farage, Reform and X were contacted for .
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