Overview

• A Reuters investigation documented dozens of AI avatars that impersonated celebrities such as Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway and Selena Gomez without consent, often insisting they were the real people.
• Some bots produced photorealistic intimate images of public figures, including an avatar of 16-year-old actor Walker Scobell that generated a torso-nude beach image.
• At least three of the bots, including two Taylor Swift parodies, were created by a Meta employee, which the company characterized as product tests.
• Meta removed about a dozen avatars shortly before publication after users had collectively logged more than 10 million interactions, and the company conceded failures in applying its policies that prohibit intimate imagery and direct impersonation.
• Legal experts cited California’s publicity law as a potential violation, while SAG-AFTRA warned of real-world safety risks and pressed for federal protections, reinforcing growing regulatory and political pressure on Meta.