A lawyer for well-known pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes is going to extreme measures to try to stop false information about his client that was placed on YouTube using artificial intelligence, claiming the company has not adequately enforced its own rules.
Jakes’ lawyer, Dustin Pusch, filed a motion in the Northern District of California on Thursday, requesting that Google, the parent company of YouTube, provide information about the identities of four YouTube account users. According to YouTube’s “About” sections, they are allegedly based in Pakistan, South Africa, the Philippines, and Kenya.
Citing earlier NBC News coverage on AI-generated disinformation on YouTube, the motion claimed that these accounts made misleading statements about Jakes. It further said that parts of the videos, such as the voiceovers and thumbnail graphics, were probably produced using AI technologies. After years of popularity, YouTube has launched AI projects to significantly expand the amount of AI-generated content and material available on the network.
However, by monetizing them with advertisements, AI components have also been used to disseminate false information about videos that might generate significant revenue for YouTube and its authors. As one of the first attempts to identify the people who created the disinformation, Jake’s lawyer’s motion represents a major step in the fight against the platform’s viral AI-generated falsehood. AI detection experts discovered a significant probability of comparable video involving AI-generated visuals and sounds, and a YouTube creator behind similar content previously revealed their usage of AI tools to NBC News.
A request for comment was not immediately answered by YouTube.
As part of a deluge of false material fueled by conjecture regarding accusations made against Sean Diddy Combs, with whom Jakes has previously been affiliated, hundreds of YouTube videos featuring Jakes have garnered millions of views over the past year.
A number of accusations, including sex trafficking, have been made against Combs since he was initially accused of abuse in a case he settled with Casandra Cassie Ventura in November 2023. The rapper and record executive was arrested in September and is currently awaiting trial. Combs’ lawyer refuted Ventura’s claims, stating that the settlement did not amount to an admission of misconduct. Combs entered a not guilty plea in the criminal case and refuted further accusations made in later civil actions.
An internet misinformation culture that targets Black celebrities has grown in tandem with the actual news coverage of the Combs case. NBC News discovered in January that dozens of videos with hundreds of thousands of views contained artificial intelligence (AI)-generated false information about Combs, Jakes, and other individuals, including actor Denzel Washington and TV host Steve Harvey.
Some of the films had sexy fake pictures of celebrities in bed together in the thumbnails, while others said the people were detained. NBC News discovered that artificial intelligence algorithms were used to construct some of the films. Some of the channels and videos that NBC News found were taken down by YouTube. However, Jake’s lawyer stated in his request that YouTube has not addressed a large number of the videos that he has reported to the business.
In Dallas, Texas, Jakes serves as the senior pastor of The Potter’s House, a non-denominational Christian megachurch.
Since 2021, he hosts a sermon series on Revolt, a media company Combs started in 2013; the rapper stepped down from Revolt last year, selling his stake in March. Jakes briefly attended Combs’ birthday celebration in 2022. Music producer Rodney Lil Rod Jones said in a 2024 lawsuit that Combs intended to use his connection to Jakes to lessen the severity of Ventura’s lawsuit. Combs has not responded to the allegation.
Jakes has not defended Combs in the wake of Ventura s lawsuit, but he has defended himself from an avalanche of false and absurd videos about him, Combs and other Black celebrities, the motion said.
According to the motion, these YouTubers are allegedly using the sensational and vile accusations made against Sean Diddy Combs to attack, degrade, and defame Bishop Jakes and numerous other well-known black celebrities by making false claims that he is responsible for the same crimes and other obscene and disgusting behaviors as Mr. Combs. In other words, YouTubers are using Bishop Jakes s prominence as clickbait to attract unwitting users to view their knowingly false videos for their (and possibly other foreign companies ) financial gain.
As described in the motion and in screenshots of YouTube video titles and thumbnails viewed by NBC News, fake images show Jakes in a prison jumpsuit, in handcuffs and in sexual scenarios with other male celebrities. Video titles falsely claim that Jakes was arrested, came out as gay and stepped down from his position at The Potter s House.
The motion said Jakes legal action follows a yearlong attempt to engage with YouTube s legal counsel on the issue, as well as report videos that violate YouTube s community guidelines around misleading thumbnails, spam, misinformation and lewd sexual imagery. YouTube has removed some of the videos, but left a majority up, the motion said.
An NBC News review of YouTube search results for td jakes and td jakes diddy on Wednesday surfaced more than two dozen videos, some with over 1 million views, with titles and thumbnails containing false information, doctored photos and lurid claims about Jakes. Some of the videos connected Combs to Jakes recentonstage health incident.
If the motion and subpoena are successful, upon receiving information like IP addresses and email addresses, Jakes may pursue defamation litigation against the people behind the YouTube channels, the motion said. In November, Jakes fileda defamation suitagainst a man who claimed Jakes sexually assaulted him. The man made the claim on a podcast and no charges were ever filed.
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