TikTok deepfakes alter real arrests to depict cops groping women

Copyleaks says it has identified TikTok videos that use AI to alter real arrest footage so that police officers appear to be kissing and sexually touching people in handcuffs. The underlying material, the firm says, mostly comes from reality shows like TLC's 'D.U.I.', Futurism reported.

The mechanic is an engagement loop. The AI-generated clip is spliced at the front of a longer, unaltered arrest video, so a user who stops on the shocking opening keeps scrolling into the real footage behind it.

'This is a disturbing example of how AI tools are being used to create deepfake versions of real content to drive attention and engagement on social media,' Copyleaks cofounder and CEO Alon Yamin said in a statement. He added that the videos 'feature real people...who are being depicted doing things that never happened.'

Some of the fabricated clips carry labels claiming 'entertainment use only with no harmful implication,' which Futurism characterized as hollow given that real officers and arrestees are being shown in fabricated sexual contact. Some sequences even frame the contact as consensual, with victims appearing to smile. TikTok removed the flagged content after being contacted and pointed to its existing guidelines for labeling realistic AI material.