Court orders Meta to remove deepfake videos of Eckart von Hirschhausen
A German court ordered Meta to remove deepfake videos depicting science journalist Eckart von Hirschhausen endorsing a non-existent weight-loss product. The ruling reportedly allows other victims of deepfakes to take similar legal action against the platform for failing to remove similar fraudulent content.
What happened
Deepfake videos circulated on Meta platforms showing Dr. Eckart von Hirschhausen, an ARD science journalist, appearing to advertise a weight-loss product that does not exist.
Several people fell for the fraudulent videos and paid money for the non-existent product to the scammers behind the deepfakes.
Reported impact
Multiple victims lost money by purchasing the fake weight-loss product based on the deepfake videos.
The incident affected the credibility of von Hirschhausen, the WDR broadcaster, and public-service broadcasting more broadly.
Index analysis
The Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt ruled that Meta must delete the deepfake videos and implement stronger measures against deepfake content in the future.
Von Hirschhausen stated that affected individuals can now report deepfakes to the platform and take legal action against Meta if the platform fails to remove substantially similar content.
Governance controls
The WDR has implemented technical measures against identity deception and publishes fact-checks on potential misinformation.
The WDR became the first public-service broadcaster in German-speaking countries to join two initiatives for marking trustworthy content: the Content Authenticity Initiative (CAI) and the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA).
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.