In an troubling trend that’s left disability advocates and social media users stunned, a wave of suggestive, AI-manipulated videos that appear to portray people with Down syndrome has been spreading online in recent weeks.
In videos popping up on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, female creators purporting to have Down syndrome can be seen dancing to trending songs, uploading selfies, and generally posting thirst traps. At first glance, you might be forgiven to think it’s just another influencer putting up videos for their followers.
But here’s the unsettling part — these videos don’t actually feature creators with the condition. Instead, as many social media users have quickly pointed out, they appear to be deepfakes or use AI filters on existing content, some pulling videos from known adult content creators. They contain links to monetised, subscription-based explicit content platforms like OnlyFans.
Captions on the videos range from cringe to outright revolting when you consider they’re straight-up faking the syndrome, with lines like “The syndrome is Down but the 🍑 is up,” or “Would you be ‘down’ for a baddie like me.” Others go darker, with one video including the text: “She has Down syndrome bro, not my proudest catch”. WTF is going on here?
Needless to say, it’s a trend that’s left disability advocates alarmed about fetishisation and exploitation, while social media users are stunned at who’s even engaging with this content. Some of these pages have five-digit follower counts, racking up hundreds of comments and likely driving up their monetisation views.
Even more alarming, some users hold concerns the women in certain clips look extremely young, sparking fears the content might’ve been lifted from teen creators, with the filter thrown on top.
“We live in a sick world,” one TikTok user wrote about the trend. Another remarked it’s “unacceptable” to be reducing the real life human experience of Down syndrome to a cheap gimmick like this, just for clout.
“It’s so disgusting and disrespectful to the people who actually have Down syndrome,” read one comment.
“As if there’s not enough nastiness in the world. Come on guys, do something positive with your day. That is just sad,” another person stated.
Earlier this month, influencer Joey Swoll joined the chorus, calling out these videos and the people who engage with it to further fuel its demand. In a video that’s been viewed almost two million times, he described the trend as “one of the most disgusting things” he’s ever seen.
“Now I don’t know if they’re stealing content or using their own, but why in the world does this filter even exist?” he said.
“Shame on you. You need to do better.”
A day later, in a video that notched over 12.5 million views, he confirmed the account in question has since been blocked after public outcry and users reports.
Many users have resorted to calling out these videos every time they pop up, regularly pointing out that it’s a filter amid all the thirsty comments. Unfortunately, there’s far more thirsty comments than you’d think.
Speaking to PEDESTRIAN.TV, Darryl Steff, chief executive of Down Syndrome Australia, said the organisation’s troubled to see this kind of content popping up on social media feeds.
“People with Down syndrome should be respected and supported in our community. The content we are seeing is deeply concerning, especially so as it impacts a vulnerable group,” he said in a statement.
“This content objectifies and sexualises people with Down syndrome, notably young women. Not only is this disrespectful, and exploitative, it is harmful – content like this can perpetuate violence against women.”
Steff called for companies to ensure people don’t perpetuate and profit from the trend, adding: “We appreciate working with companies to date who see this content as violating community standards.”
TikTok explained it is actively removing content that contains “reductive or degrading imitations of disabilities or bullying and hateful behaviour”. Responding to some accounts using the filter, highlighted by P.TV., the platform confirmed they have been banned for violating its community guidelines.
“In Q4 2024, we proactively removed more than 89 per cent of content for violating our hate speech and hateful behaviour policies before any reports were filed. As always, if someone sees a video or account they believe violates our Community Guidelines, they can report it in app,” a TikTok spokesperson told P.TV.
Meta (aka Instagram’s parent company) told P.TV that their Community Standards apply to all content, AI-generated or not.
“Our Community Standards apply to all content posted on our platforms regardless of whether it’s AI-generated, and we take action against any content that violates these policies,” a spokesperson for Meta said.
It’s understood they’ve started flagging manipulated media as well. In one such example on Instagram, an AI filter video includes a label linking to the original — run by an OnlyFans creator — making it pretty clear that her face has been altered.
A side-by-side comparison of the filter. (Source: Instagram)
Hinting at how widespread interest in this trend might be, a search for “down” on the app currently autocompletes with results of “beautiful girl”. Other search terms like “down syndrome baddie” and “down syndrome fitness girl” also pop up.
Meanwhile, OnlyFans said its content moderation team has reviewed these accounts and clarified that the AI face filters aren’t being used on the platform itself.
“None of the accounts referred to are using AI to filter or fake images on OnlyFans. Our Terms of Service are clear that AI generated images of this kind would not be allowed on the platform,” a spokesperson told P.TV.
With the trend’s objectification of disabilities, this is ticking a whole bunch of red flag boxes, even as advocates flag just how sinister it can be to already marginalised communities. If you see one of these vids, the best course of action is definitely to report and move on.
The post Suggestive Videos Using A Down Syndrome Filter Are Taking Over TikTok & Instagram appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
