WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Videos show medical professionals promoting an antifungal nail treatment.
OUR VERDICT
False. The medical professionals are AI generated.
AAP FACTCHECK - Medical professionals promoting antifungal health treatments in dozens of Facebook advertisements are AI-generated.
The ads link to a website falsely claiming the product - an antifungal gel pen - has thousands of five-star ratings on Trustpilot, a consumer review website.
At the time of writing, the page was running more than 200 ads across Meta's social media platforms.
One video ad features a man in a blue medical uniform being interviewed about methods to eradicate toenail fungus.
The man dismisses commercial fungus creams and oils as ineffective and instead promotes a paint-on antifungal product.
However, the video shows clear signs of being AI-generated.
On the back wall, an anatomical diagram of a foot contains only four toes, and the diagram is labelled with the nonsensical title: "ANOTOLMARY FOOT".
Throughout the video, the word "FOOT" also changes to "FOOTH" (timestamp two seconds) and "FOOTES" (timestamp 0.33)
Google's AI detection software, SynthID Detector, confirms the video was made or edited with Google AI.
Other video ads feature a woman called "Dr L" answering a question about how to treat nail fungus if pharmacy antifungals haven't worked.
In the videos, the woman recommends the advertiser's antifungal pen, claiming it's cheaper and more effective than rival products.
Again, SynthID Detector confirms the video was made or edited with Google AI.
Additionally, the company website appears to feature fake product reviews.
The website lists dozens of five-star testimonials and claims to have "50k+ Satisfied Customers" on Trustpilot.
However, AAP FactCheck found no evidence the thousands of perfect star-ratings exist.
Instead, the company's Trustpilot listing contains only two reviews, both one-star.
The Trustpilot listing also says the company "has been displaying Trustpilot content incorrectly".
"This could look like showing an inaccurate star rating in sales materials, displaying reviews they're not permitted to use on their site, and more," the Trustpilot page says.
AAP FactCheck could not find a listing for the antifungal pen on the Therapeutic Goods Administration's register of approved medical products in Australia.
All therapeutic goods sold in Australia must be included in the register, unless they are declared exempt or specifically excluded.
The company's website includes a customer service email address but no postal address or phone number.
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