'Our photos were stolen and used to sell weight loss drugs'

A mother and daughter who run a clothing shop said they felt “helpless” when their promotional photos were stolen and manipulated to sell weight loss drugs on social media.

The images of Nicola Dexter modelling outfits were lifted without consent and altered to make her appear overweight.

They were then posted on a TikTok account as “before” and “after” photos alongside false claims that Nicola had taken a weight loss treatment called Pinkies.

TikTok removed the account when contacted by the BBC and said: "We have banned this account for breaching our community guidelines."

Nicola and her daughter Antonia set up Style by Eleven during the Covid pandemic.

They have built a loyal customer base, both at their shop in Ossett, Wakefield, and online.

Nicola models for their website and social media pages, while Antonia takes the pictures and manages their online presence.

Antonia said: “About a month ago a customer messaged us to say, ‘Have you seen this on TikTok?’

“We hadn’t, but there were loads of videos of my mum promoting this drug.

“They were her but they had been manipulated, possibly by AI, and then they’d used her actual pictures to say ‘this is what I look like now’. ”

The account included a link to an external website where capsules and "food noise patches" could be purchased.

Antonia started by reporting each post to TikTok, but each time she was told that it hadn’t violated community guidelines.

She filled out a full report on the website and had an online chat, but was told again that the account and the posts didn’t violate guidelines.

Antonia also wrote to TikTok's legal team.

The pair had been fighting to get the account removed for about a month before the BBC got involved.

Nicola said: “It wasn’t what they had done to me, I am quite thick-skinned, I was more worried about the people buying them.

“What were they buying? Had they taken money out of people‘s bank accounts?

“What were they getting? They were using us to promote something we knew nothing about.”

Liz Ward, an intellectual property specialist at Virtuoso Legal in Leeds, said there was very little Antonia and Nicola could do from a legal perspective.

“The problem is that there are no image rights in the UK, so enforcing your rights as an entity is quite difficult.

“There are civil remedies, they can go to the court and ask for a remedy for "passing off" and copyright infringement too.

“But, of course, it all takes a lot of money and that’s the difficulty.

“I think the other difficulty is they don’t know who the potential defendant would be.”

Ward was referring to potential issues in tracing the people running the account selling the Pinkies products.

She said she thinks the law should be changed to allow criminal proceedings for this kind of illicit use of someone’s image.

She also thinks the social media platforms should be held more accountable.

“The platforms use a lot of automated responses, this is a problem we have, although we manage to overcome it in most cases by writing as a lawyer.

“But for a lot of people who want take down notices, it should be quick, it should be easy, but they’re never reviewed by a human being, so a lot of criminal activity is really going unchecked.

“So, arguably, the platforms are aiding and abetting that criminal activity.”

When the BBC contacted TikTok to highlight the problem the social media platform responded almost immediately and within a few hours the account had been removed.

TikTok added in a statement: "Our terms of service and community guidelines clearly state that users are prohibited from posting, sharing, or sending any content that violates or infringes on another user's copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights.

"We also do not allow content that promotes disordered eating, risky weight loss or muscle gain methods, or harmful body comparisons. We also have strict rules against trading, marketing, or providing access to regulated, prohibited, or high-risk goods and services."

Nicola said their customers were supportive and tried to help get the posts removed.

She said: “It is just humiliating to us. We felt helpless and it has taken something away from us. They have stolen my picture and my identity.

“I feel like I have been violated.”

The mother and daughter duo said the ordeal has not put them off posting photos, because they need an online presence for their business.

But Antonia said it would stop her buying products she saw promoted on TikTok.

“There are all these innocent people commenting asking where they can buy the products because they are believing what they are seeing.

“It’s just really worrying that TikTok are allowing their users to be scammed, really.”

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