Racist videos, seemingly generated by Google’s AI video creation tool Veo 3, have amassed millions of views across TikTok, according to a recent investigation by the non-profit media watchdog Media Matters. These AI-produced videos, identified by the organization, are saturated with derogatory stereotypes, particularly targeting Black individuals.
Media Matters concluded the videos, one of which garnered an astonishing 14.2 million views, were created using Google Veo 3 due to the visible “Veo” watermark prominently displayed in the corner of these clips. Furthermore, some users explicitly included hashtags, captions, or usernames referencing Veo 3 or AI. Each clip identified by the organization was precisely eight seconds long or comprised multiple segments, each not exceeding eight seconds, aligning perfectly with Veo 3’s known eight-second generation limit.
Google launched Veo 3 in May, enabling users to generate AI video clips and audio simply by inputting a text prompt. Google’s official website states its commitment to “block harmful requests and results.” Similarly, TikTok’s community guidelines explicitly prohibit “hate speech and hateful behavior,” affirming that the platform “will not recommend content that contains negative stereotypes about a person or group with a protected attribute.”
In response to the findings, TikTok spokesperson Ariane de Selliers stated to The Verge, “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.” The Verge also discovered some of these problematic videos on YouTube, albeit with fewer views, while Wired independently located comparable racist AI-generated content on Instagram. Media Matters also found other videos containing antisemitic content and racist portrayals of immigrants and Asian individuals. Google has not yet provided a comment regarding the issue.
