AI Photo Tools Make Fake Online Personas Easy and Profitable

Software like Runway Gen 3 and Flux now let anyone create realistic AI-generated photos—eliminating the technical skill that once protected against fake accounts. A single person can now operate dozens of fake social media profiles, each featuring entirely artificial faces, and earn thousands through subscriptions and merchandise sales. Analysis: this shift moves the responsibility for catching fakes from people creating them to social media platforms, which must now invest heavily in detection.