David Do, who practices at Markham Stouffville Hospital, ran MrDeepFakes, which featured non-consensual and often violent deepfake videos of celebrities, politicians and social media influencers, among others, according to CBC News. The site, which paid video creators in cryptocurrency, has since been taken down. (CBC News)
Talking point: With more than 650,000 users, the site logged more than two billion views since the site’s inception in 2018. Publishing non-consensual deepfake videos is illegal in several countries, and U.S. states, although not in Canada. During the federal election campaign, Prime Minister Mark Carney promised to introduce a law making the practice a criminal offence. Oak Valley Health, the regional health authority that employs Do, said it has launched an internal investigation into the matter.