Racist videos purportedly created using Google’s AI video generation tool, Veo 3, have accumulated millions of views on TikTok, based on research from the nonprofit media watchdog Media Matters. The organization discovered AI-generated videos filled with racist stereotypes, particularly aimed at Black individuals.
Media Matters identified these videos — with one amassing 14.2 million views — as generated by Google Veo 3 due to the “Veo” watermark in the videos’ corners. Additionally, users included hashtags, captions, or usernames related to Veo 3 or AI, according to Media Matters. The organization found that each video lasted merely eight seconds or consisted of multiple clips each no longer than 8 seconds, aligning with Veo 3’s eight-second restriction.
Google’s Veo 3, released in May, enables the creation of AI video clips and audio through simple text prompts. Google states on its website that it will “block harmful requests and results.” Similarly, TikTok’s policies declare that “hate speech and hateful behavior have no place on TikTok,” and the platform “will not recommend content that contains negative stereotypes about a person or group with a protected attribute.”
“We proactively enforce robust rules against hateful speech and behavior and have removed the accounts we identified in the report, many of which were already banned prior to the report publishing,” TikTok spokesperson Ariane de Selliers said in a statement to The Verge.
The Verge found some of the videos highlighted by Media Matters were also on YouTube but with fewer views, while Wired also discovered similar, racist AI-generated videos on Instagram. Other videos found by Media Matters contain antisemitic content and racist depictions of immigrants and Asian people.
Google didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
Update, July 2nd: Added a statement from TikTok.
