University of Antwerp says a deepfake video uses a professor's face, voice and name to advertise a prostate remedy; viewers asked him whether to stop treatment
VRT NWS reported on 6 October 2026 that the University of Antwerp had warned of a deepfake video in which one of its professors, a vaccinologist and epidemiologist, appears to advertise a remedy for prostate problems. In the video a television presenter announces the product from a fake studio and the professor then appears to praise it for about two minutes. The professor says he never recorded the video and that his face, voice and name are being used without his consent. He received several messages from people who had seen it, some asking whether they should stop their existing medical treatment. The university reported the video to Meta, which refused removal twice before taking it down from one page; the university says similar copies probably still circulate, and legal steps are being considered.
- AI system
- Unidentified video tool
- Occurred
- Event date unknown
- Reported
- 6 October 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Depicted or impersonated the person
- Reported harm
- Reputational Harm
- Whose AI use
- Someone else’s AI use
- Setting
- Health
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 4 claims: 4 reported. 4 open questions
- People reported harmed
- At least 1 person
AI system as recorded: A video the university describes as a deepfake ('deepfakevideo'), showing the professor apparently endorsing a prostate remedy for about two minutes after a presenter introduces it from a fake television studio; no tool or maker is identified
What Happened
The video. VRT NWS (Lotte Aneca, 6 October 2026) reports that the University of Antwerp warned of a deepfake video in which Pierre Van Damme, a vaccinologist and epidemiologist at the university, appears to advertise a remedy for prostate problems. In the video the presenter Xavier Taveirne announces a new product from a fake television studio, and the professor then appears to praise it for about two minutes.
The professor's statement. He says he never recorded the video, that his face, voice and name are being used without his consent to promote a purported treatment, and that the video tries to mislead viewers.
Viewers' reactions. The professor received several messages from people who had seen the video. Some asked him whether they should stop their existing medical treatment. The article does not say that anyone did.
Takedown and legal steps. The university reported the video to Meta, Facebook's parent company. Meta first replied that it was not clear the content was unlawful and refused to remove it, kept that position after a second report, and removed the video from one page after a third attempt. The university believes identical or similar videos still circulate on other pages. The professor and the university are considering further legal steps.
Limits. One broadcaster's report based on the university's warning and the professor's statement. The maker, the tool, the product, the pages and the period of circulation are not identified, and no viewer who acted on the video is described.
Reported harm
The professor's face, voice and name were used without his consent, by his account, in a generated video endorsing a purported prostate remedy; viewers then asked him whether to stop their own treatment, and Meta refused removal twice.
Outcome
OngoingMeta removed the video from one page after the university's third report; the university says identical or similar videos probably still circulate on other pages, and the professor and the university are considering further legal steps.
What remains unknown
- Who made the video, with what tool, and on which pages and for how long it circulated.
- The product being advertised and whether anyone bought it or stopped treatment after seeing the video.
- Whether the presenter shown in the video was also depicted without consent; the article records no statement from him.
- Whether a complaint or other legal step has been filed.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The university describes the video as a deepfake and the professor says he never recorded it and that his face, voice and name are used in it to promote a purported prostate treatment; the article describes the generated content (about two minutes of apparent endorsement after a presenter's introduction from a fake studio). That generated depiction is the harm: the professor's likeness endorses a product without his consent, and viewers who saw it asked him whether to stop treatment. No tool or maker is identified, and the account rests on the university's warning and the professor's statement as reported by one broadcaster.
4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The University of Antwerp warned of a deepfake video in which its professor, a vaccinologist and epidemiologist, appears to advertise a remedy for prostate problems; in the video a presenter announces the product from a fake television studio and the professor then appears to praise it for about two minutes.
Causal attribution. The university's warning and the broadcaster's description of the video; the video itself was not inspected by the research agent.
- vrt.be(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
'De Universiteit Antwerpen waarschuwt voor een deepfakevideo waarin vaccinoloog en epidemioloog Pierre Van Damme reclame lijkt te maken voor een middel tegen prostaatproblemen'; 'kondigt presentator Xavier Taveirne vanuit een valse televisiestudio een nieuw middel tegen prostaatproblemen aan. Vervolgens lijkt Van Damme ongeveer 2 minuten lang het product aan te prijzen'
Reported The professor says he never recorded the video, that his face, voice and name are being used without his consent to promote a purported prostate treatment, and that the video tries to mislead viewers.
Causal attribution. The professor's own statement as quoted by VRT NWS.
- vrt.be(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
'Ik heb deze video nooit opgenomen'; 'Mijn gezicht, mijn stem en mijn naam worden zonder mijn toestemming gebruikt om een vermeende behandeling tegen prostaatproblemen te promoten. De video probeert kijkers te misleiden'
Reported The professor received several messages from people who had seen the video, some of whom asked him whether they should stop their existing medical treatment.
Causal attribution. Reported by the broadcaster from the professor's account; no viewer is described as having stopped treatment.
- vrt.be(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
'De professor kreeg verschillende berichten van mensen die de video hadden gezien. Sommigen vroegen hem zelfs of ze hun bestaande medische behandeling moesten stopzetten'
Reported The university reported the video to Meta, which first said it was not clear the content was unlawful and refused removal, kept that position after a second report, and removed the video from one page after a third attempt; the university says identical or similar videos probably still circulate, and the professor and university are considering further legal steps.
Causal attribution. The university's account of its reports to Meta and Meta's replies, as reported by VRT NWS; Meta is not quoted directly.
- vrt.be(opens in new tab) supports · Dutch
'De universiteit meldde het filmpje bij Meta'; 'weigerde de video te verwijderen. Ook na een 2e melding bleef Meta bij dat standpunt. Na een 3e poging werd het filmpje wel van 1 pagina verwijderd'; 'Van Damme en UAntwerpen bekijken verdere juridische stappen'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- VRT NWS, 6 October 2026: "UAntwerpen waarschuwt voor deepfakevideo waarin viroloog Pierre Van Damme reclame maakt voor medicijn"(opens in new tab)
s1 · vrt.be · National news · Dutch · Inspected · 6 October 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in Dutch: the full VRT NWS article on vrt.be (also checked against its MSN syndication). Passages were translated by the research agent, an AI; no human translator reviewed them. Applies to s1.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Belgium. Court countries: Unknown.
The article does not say where the video was made or where the Facebook pages that carried it are run, so no event country is recorded. The affected person is identified as a professor at the University of Antwerp, which the university's own warning places in Belgium (BE).
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-07: Published on the university's public warning and the professor's own statement, reported by the public broadcaster, that a generated video uses his face, voice and name to endorse a prostate remedy, with the reported viewer messages and Meta's refusals as the described consequences. Single source; all claims reported; the professor and presenter are public figures named in the university's warning; no private person is identified.
People described
A University of Antwerp professor of vaccinology and epidemiology whose face, voice and name appear in the video; a television presenter also appears in it
People reported harmed in this case
At least 1 person
0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed
One person: the professor whose likeness the university and he himself say was used without consent. The presenter shown in the video is not counted because the article records no statement about his depiction, and the viewers who sent messages are not counted as harmed.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Tags
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). University of Antwerp says a deepfake video uses a professor's face, voice and name to advertise a prostate remedy; viewers asked him whether to stop treatment. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-antwerp-university-professor-deepfake-video-advertises-prostate-remedy
BibTeX
@misc{2026_antwerp_university_professor_deepfake_video_advertises_prostate_remedy,
title = {University of Antwerp says a deepfake video uses a professor's face, voice and name to advertise a prostate remedy; viewers asked him whether to stop treatment},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-antwerp-university-professor-deepfake-video-advertises-prostate-remedy}
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