Keanu Reeves, the beloved star of John Wick and The Matrix, is reportedly paying a company a few thousand dollars each month to get social media giants like TikTok and Meta to remove impersonators.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Reeves hires a firm named Loti to issue thousands of account takedowns annually, targeting scammers who exploit his fame for financial gain.
Reeves, who has famously avoided social media, is said to be one of the most impersonated celebrities online. This absence of a public social media presence adds to his mystique, leaving space for fake accounts to appear. Scammers create convincing fake images of Reeves, often pushing political messages, promoting dubious products, or even building fake relationships with fans to trick them into sending money. With the rise of generative AI, these scams have become more sophisticated and harder to detect.
This issue isn’t unique to Reeves. Other celebrities, including Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman, and Jamie Lee Curtis, have raised concerns about unauthorized use of their likenesses. In 2023, Tom Hanks warned his fans about an AI-generated ad featuring his likeness in a dental plan, while Jamie Lee Curtis even appealed directly to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg after struggling to have a misleading AI ad featuring her image removed.
While concerns about impersonation and AI misuse are growing, some have called for more robust regulations to protect artists and the public. Alexandra Shannon, a strategic development expert at CAA, has voiced the need for clearer rules to prevent such abuses. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, the line between reality and artificial creation continues to blur, leaving both celebrities and regular users vulnerable to exploitation.