Natalia Moseichuk - attack 02.07.2025

In June 2025, a video with signs of artificial intelligence use, particularly deepfake technology, was circulated on Facebook featuring well-known Ukrainian TV presenter Natalia Moseichuk. The clip was styled as a news broadcast from the “1+1” TV channel: it included the channel’s signature colors in the intro and the caption “Diabetes Epidemic.”

The presenter begins the so-called “broadcast” with the words: “A sensation in healthcare: due to the epidemic in the country this week, renowned doctor Borys Todurov presented his new drug for diabetics, developed together with the American company Pfizer.”

Why this is fake:

• Such a news broadcast was never aired.
  
• Pfizer is indeed an international pharmaceutical company, but it is primarily known for developing a COVID-19 vaccine, not a “drug for diabetes.”
  
• Borys Todurov is a well-known Ukrainian doctor, but he is a cardiac surgeon, not a diabetes specialist.
  

Deepfake indicators:

• The unauthorized use of the presenter’s image in an artificially generated video.
  
• Imitation of the “1+1” channel’s style (intro, studio background, colors) to boost the credibility of disinformation.
  
• Lip-sync mismatches, blurred transitions on the face, and other typical visual artifacts of deepfakes.
  

This video is an example of a manipulative deepfake aimed at spreading false information about a “medical drug” by exploiting the image of a female journalist. Such cases fall under technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), as they undermine the professional reputation of the TV presenter and exploit the public’s trust in women’s journalistic roles for commercial and fraudulent purposes.

That is why the NGO “Women in Media” has prepared a guide: “Steps for Newsroom to Take in the First 24 Hours Following an Online Attack against a Woman Journalist.” The guide is based on practices from UNESCO (The Chilling), the Coalition Against Online Violence, PEN America, the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, and IWMF.

The document outlines types of threats, manipulations, and disinformation, provides contacts of support services, and offers action algorithms. An attack on a female journalist is an attack on the entire newsroom; therefore, the primary task of the media is to support and protect their colleague.