Fake Disney movie trailers containing racist and offensive content are spreading to millions of viewers on TikTok, according to an investigation by Swedish public broadcaster SVT. The AI-generated clips purport to show upcoming Pixar films but contain harmful stereotypes and derogatory content. Investigators from SVT Verifierar examined 20 such videos, several of which have garnered millions of views.
Examples include trailers titled "Epstein's Island" and "Not chinese" that falsely claim to be from the animation studio. The proliferation of these fake trailers reportedly increased after Disney and OpenAI entered into an agreement that allows users to create animations in Pixar's style. One investigated video features a boy being called derogatory terms due to his Southeast Asian background, while another shows stereotypically portrayed characters.
All examined clips were confirmed to be AI-generated rather than official Disney content.