Deepfakes Can Copy Your Face. They Can't Copy Your Record.

In October, an AI-generated photo of actress Mia Goth spread across Instagram. It came from a fan account with a blue verification tick, and it was convincing enough to inspire headlines from entertainment outlets (AV Club). Goth isn't even on social media. Her representative called it "incomprehensible" that Instagram let forged and manipulated images of her spread (TheWrap).

If that can happen to a film star with a full team behind her, it can happen to you. That's why deepfake protection for executives is no longer an IT topic. It's a reputation topic.

I've spent years building authority for founders and experts through press features and TV interviews. Here's the uncomfortable truth I now share with every client: you can't stop someone from faking your face. What you can control is how quickly the world can tell the fake from the real you.

Why AI impersonation is now a founder problem

Deepfakes used to need a studio. Now they need a few minutes of public footage of you, and most founders have hours of it online: podcasts, keynotes, LinkedIn videos, interviews.

The most famous business case is still the one from Hong Kong in early 2024. An employee joined a video call with what looked like his UK-based CFO and several colleagues. Every other person on the call was a deepfake, built from publicly available footage. He made 15 transfers worth about HK$200 million, roughly US$25.6 million (AI Incident Database, citing Hong Kong police). In May 2024, British engineering firm Arup confirmed it was the victim (CNN).

That story is about fraud, but the same tools hit reputation. A fake clip of you "saying" something offensive. A fake endorsement of a crypto scheme. A fake photo next to the wrong person. Each one lands in front of investors, clients and journalists who may have never met you.

Lawmakers are starting to move. On 8 October, Denmark introduced a bill that bans sharing realistic deepfakes of a person's face or voice without consent, with exceptions for satire and parody. The culture minister hopes it takes effect at the start of 2027, and said a main goal is getting tech platforms to remove manipulated content quickly (Euronews).

Good news, but slow news. Laws help you take a fake down after it spreads. They don't help in the first 48 hours, when people decide what they believe.

Deepfake protection for executives starts before the fake

Here's how I think about it. When a fake appears, people do one thing: they check. They search your name. They ask ChatGPT who you are. They look for the real interview, the real profile, the real quote.

What they find in that moment decides everything.

If they find a thin LinkedIn profile and two blog posts, the fake has room to breathe. If they find a consistent record of real interviews, credible features and a clear official presence, the fake looks like what it is: an outlier. As I wrote in The Due Diligence Blind Spot, what shows up in a search can change a deal. A deepfake just raises the stakes.

So the best defence isn't hiding. It's being so clearly, verifiably you across trusted sources that a fake can't fit in.

Five steps to make AI impersonation easy to spot

1. Build a dense record of real, third-party media

Editorial features and interviews are the strongest proof of who you are, because someone other than you checked and published them. The more credible outlets that show your real face, voice and views, the harder it is for a fake to pass as "new information". This is the AI-era version of the reputation infrastructure I described in Why Smart Capital Builds Digital Fortresses.

2. Own your real voice on video

If the only footage of you is a shaky webinar, a fake clip can easily look "better" than the real thing. A professionally produced TV interview, where your tone, pace and positions are on record, gives people a reference to compare against. It also gives journalists something real to quote. If you're preparing for one, start with my TV interview playbook.

3. Publish one official source of truth

Your website should have a bio page, a press page linking every genuine feature, and a clear line on which social accounts are officially yours. When a fake account appears, you can point to one page and say: "These are the only accounts I run."

4. Claim and verify your accounts, even the ones you don't use

The Mia Goth case shows the risk of an empty space. She isn't on Instagram, so a fan account filled the gap. Reserve your name on the main platforms, verify where you can, and keep each profile consistent with your official bio.

5. Have a response plan ready

Decide now who monitors your name, who reports fakes to platforms, and who issues a short public statement. Speed matters more than perfect wording. A two-line post from your verified account, linking your official page, often does more than a long legal letter a week later.

What not to do

Don't disappear. Some founders react to deepfake risk by scrubbing their online presence. That backfires. Less real footage doesn't stop fakes; it just means the fake becomes the most visible version of you.

And don't rely on paid placements to fill the gap. A labelled sponsored article tells people you paid to say something about yourself. A feature an editor chose to run tells them someone else vouched for you. When trust is under attack, only the second one helps.

FAQ

Q1: What is deepfake protection for executives? It's the mix of security habits and reputation work that limits the damage of fake video, audio or images of a leader. The security side covers verification steps for payments and calls. The reputation side means building a strong, verifiable public record so fakes are quickly recognised as fakes.

Q2: Can I stop someone from making a deepfake of me? Not completely. Anyone with public footage of you can try. What you can do is make fakes easy to spot, report them fast, and use new laws where they exist, such as the deepfake bill Denmark introduced in October 2026.

Q3: Does having less content online make me safer from deepfakes? Usually not. Fakes can be made from very little footage. A thin presence just means there's less real material to compare against, so a fake can become the most visible version of you.

Q4: How does media coverage help against AI impersonation? Credible features and interviews are independent proof of who you are and what you actually say. When people check a suspicious clip, a record of real coverage gives them a trusted reference point.

Your real record is your best defence

Deepfakes will get better. Platforms will stay slow. Laws will take years to catch up across borders. The one thing fully in your hands is the strength of your real record: who has featured you, what you've said on camera, and how clearly people can find the authentic you.

That's the work we do at 10x Experts: guaranteed editorial features in outlets like Business Insider, Yahoo Finance and USA Today, and live TV interviews in New York, so the real you is on record where it counts. And if you want the full framework for turning a personal brand into lasting authority, start with my book Brand To Lead.

Sources