AI-generated fake Black influencers are being used to sell dropshipped products on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram

Dozens of accounts on TikTok feature AI-generated characters—most prominently Black women with names like Aliyah and Amaya—posing as small business owners selling dropshipped items (belt buckles, mugs, crochet bags, cardigans) at inflated prices compared to fast-fashion sites like Shein. Aliyah's account has 40,000 followers, and her most popular video has 814,000 likes, 6.5 million views, and almost 30,000 comments.

The videos use multiple AI-generated elements: robotic voices that don't match emotional expressions, fabricated scenes of product-making, automated comment responses that sometimes mimic African American vernacular, and nearly identical scripts replicated across different character accounts. A researcher at Riddance.ai estimates his team finds up to 100 accounts attempting to sell products via AI-generated avatars every day, with most accounts created in the last two months.

Researchers and academics describe this as digital blackface—a form of exploitation that mimics recognizable narratives of Black struggle to extract economic value. Some viewers, including Real Housewives of Potomac cast member Gizelle Bryant and communications researcher Cienna Davis at the University of Pennsylvania, have been deceived into attempting purchases, and the videos replicate racialized identity markers without authentic cultural grounding.