How we can combat fake influencers and experts giving PR a bad name

Both The Economist and Merriam-Webster named “slop” as the Word of the Year for 2025 to describe the increasing flood of low-quality, AI-generated content appearing across the internet and social media.

The slop that the PR industry should be concerned about - because it erodes the trust between us and the media houses - are those that come in the form of commentary or advice from fake, AI-generated experts that are embedded in press releases.

All fake: AI Generated images of “experts” designed to fool the British media into running the press releases of brands. Source: The Press Gazette 

The idea is simple: Get AI to generate an image of an “expert” or “authority,” give them false credentials and experience and quote them in a press release (probably generated by AI as well).

Unless the targeted media is vigilant, the press release is picked up and a story quoting the expert is published.

While there is no data on the prevalence of such a practice in Indonesia, the ease with which such content can be generated suggests that this game may already be in play here.

In Britain, however, the problem is so acute that “journalists have reported being bombarded with dozens and sometimes hundreds of dubious press releases a week, with the organisations behind them never replying to follow-ups and moving to different email addresses to avoid being blocked,” reports the Press Gazette, a trade publication for news publishers.

“Owners of press response services have complained that they are targeted by dozens of AI-generated profiles and ‘fake people’, attempting to fool British journalists.”

Their solution? Enact a PR Hall of Shame, a live document where they name and shame the suspect brands and spokespeople 

So far they have named “more than 50 apparently fake experts who have offered commentary to the British press in recent years and featured more than 1,000 times in newspapers, magazines and online titles.”

Part of the list in Press Gazette’s Hall of Shame for brands that use fake, AI Generated experts.

I think it is a brilliant idea and one that the Aliansi Jurnalis Independen, Dewan Pers, Perhumas or all three together should consider taking up. This would ensure that brands, PR companies and the media themselves avoid taking the easy way out and allow slop to influence the Indonesian audiences. 

It will enhance the trust the public has in the media houses, the journalists have in PR agencies and ensure that only legitimate experts are quoted.