Warren Buffett is worried about a rise in impersonators looking to capitalize on his name by purporting to be him recommending an investment product or political candidate on social media. So much so that Berkshire Hathaway made the rare move of adding a statement on the matter to the front page of its website.
The statement reads:
“In light of the increased usage of social media, there have been numerous fraudulent claims regarding Mr. Buffett’s endorsement of investment products as well as his endorsement and support of political candidates. Mr. Buffett does not currently and will not prospectively endorse investment products or endorse and support political candidates.”
The chairman and CEO of Berkshire elaborated to CNBC’s Becky Quick, saying: “I’m worried about people impersonating me and that’s why we put that on the Berkshire Web site. Nobody should believe anybody saying I’m telling them how to invest or how to vote.”
Buffett’s statement comes during a tense political season with a deadlocked presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump that’s divided big names on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley like Elon Musk, Bill Ackman and Mark Cuban. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Bill Gates is privately supporting Harris with a $50 million donation to a nonprofit backing her candidacy.
There’s also a broader concern about so-called deep fakes, using artificial intelligence to impersonate influential people for commercial gain or other uses with the image or videos looking closer and closer to reality because of advancements in the technology. For those familiar with the investment legend’s viewpoints, any endorsement by Buffett of an investing product or cryptocurrency would be met with skepticism since he famously shuns bitcoin and largely recommends that regular investors buy low-cost index funds.
But Buffett wants to make sure everyone knows he would never do something like that. His actions were triggered in part by a fake political endorsement on Meta’s Instagram that was brought to his attention.
“I don’t even know how to get on Instagram,” he told CNBC, adding he wanted to make sure people realize “anything they see with my image or my voice, it just ain’t me.”
— With reporting by Becky Quick and Lacy O’Toole.
