Deepfake soldier posts false Ukraine war stories

A Chinese man with the pseudonym 'Baoer Kechatie' who masqueraded as a Chechnyan special forces soldier operating in Ukraine posted false stories about his exploits in the Russia-Ukraine war, in addition to selling vodka, honey and other products from his e-commerce store.

While a number of the deepfake videos were labeled as movie or drama plots, comments posted by users indicated he had successfully convinced many people, some of whom 'even cheered for his success', according to Sixth Tone. 

Doubts about the man's identity began to surface amongst his 400,000+ followers, particularly surrounding his Chinese accent. Users then discovered that the IP address of his Douyin (the original, Chinese version of TikTok) account showed he was in Henan, matching his accent.

Douyin said it had indefinitely suspended the account for violating its terms.