Daniel Wong deepfake video — Oct 2026

A political campaign for a suburban Houston office faced scrutiny after sharing an AI-generated video that featured fabricated endorsements from Black residents. The video, which appeared on the social media pages of Republican candidate Daniel Wong and the Fort Bend Republican Party, was removed following public criticism regarding its authenticity.

What happened

The video featured four Black residents, including a poll worker for the Wong campaign, claiming to support the candidate and citing employment opportunities as their motivation. Viewers quickly identified several technical red flags indicative of synthetic media, including warped backgrounds, distorted clothing items, and a uniform vocal tone across all subjects.

Following the backlash, the Wong campaign issued a statement claiming that the video was not produced by their team, but rather created by a Democrat and shared with the campaign. The campaign did not identify the specific creator of the content. In response to the controversy, Wong's opponent, Dexter McCoy, released a separate video highlighting his own interactions with real residents to contrast the synthetic nature of the initial post. The Wong campaign has since removed the video from its social media platforms.