An Australian influencer has been branded 'Belle Gibson 2.0' after an ABC News Verify investigation revealed she used videos to fake charity work.
Showbiz
Queensland Influencer Accused of Faking Charity Work
An Australian influencer has been branded 'Belle Gibson 2.0' after an ABC News Verify investigation revealed she used AI videos to fake charity work.The publica...
The publication claimed Lily Jay Hinson, 31, has been using AI to generate and enhance videos to make it look like her charity, the Lily Jay Foundation, is providing supplies to people in developing nations.
The ABC investigation centred around a video Hinson shared in February, in which she claimed she opened an orphanage for children in Uganda.
In the clip, kids are seen wearing white T-shirts printed with a Ugandan flag and a Lily Jay Foundation logo as they cheered and waved lollipops in the air.
'We washed them, gave them new clothes, everything a child needs to grow up in a positive environment,' she says in the footage.
However, ABC went on to claim Hinson's appearance in the video was AI-generated, as well as the clip of the children holding lollipops.
Australian influencer Lily Jay Hinson, 31, has been branded 'Belle Gibson 2.0' after an ABC News Verify investigation revealed she used AI videos to fake charity work
The banner positioned behind Hinson, which again showed her foundation's logo, also appeared to suddenly disappear at different points in the video.
Another angle showed the back of one of the white shirts she handed out, which seemed to misspell the name of her foundation.
The video has since been deleted from Hinson's page.
Other videos found on her account also appear to contain AI generated imagery, with one clip of her standing in front of a truck showing the most obvious signs.
In the post, Hinson stood in front of a truck emblazoned with the Lily Jay Foundation logo as she claimed it was 'off to Gaza' with supplies.
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However, moments into the video, the logo on the truck appeared to clip over her arm despite the vehicle being parked behind her.
In May, a press release by the PR company Real Media Group also claimed Lily had won the Austral-Global Excellence Award for Humanitarian Leadership.
The announcement contained two images of Lily smiling as she received the award.
The publication claimed Lily Jay Hinson, 31, has been using AI to generate and enhance videos to make it look like her charity, the Lily Jay Foundation, is providing supplies to people in developing nations
However, ABC claimed an analysis conducted on the photos showed they both carried the ChatGPT SynthID watermark, revealing they were generated by AI.
It should also be noted that the website for Real Media Group, which posted the press release, showed Lily was the 'co-founder' of the PR company.
The website has since been shut down.
A look into the Queenslander's past shows she has been quite the elusive figure since starting out her life on the Sunshine Coast.
She appeared to be in the dancing scene in the area, with her first posts from the early 2010s largely including grainy photos of her dancing in various studios.
Hinson then later appeared to move to the where she began flaunting her lavish lifestyle and more glamorous look.
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She shared pictures of her posing next to luxury cars, wearing designer clothes and staying in ritzy hotels with a mystery man.
Hinson soon began jet-setting, sharing images from her lavish holidays in Turkey, Dubai, Thailand, Greece and Italy.
A look into the Queenslander's past shows she has been quite the elusive figure since starting life out on the Sunshine Coast. Hinson soon began jet-setting, sharing images from her lavish holidays in Turkey, Dubai, Thailand, Greece and Italy
After several more years of globe-trotting - Malaysia, Thailand, Hawaii, Switzerland, and Tuscany, to name a few - Hinson finally appeared to settle down in Thailand in about 2023 before disappearing off social media for about a year
In July 2024, she returned online and confirmed that she had previously lived in Thailand for two years, indicating she was no longer living there
Hinson spent several years globe-trotting, visiting Malaysia, Thailand, Hawaii, Switzerland, and Tuscany, to name only a few
Hinson began travelling frequently around the time she met her husband (right), who goes by Jey and keeps his life largely offline
In August, 2024, Hinson made a sudden pivot in the kind of posts she shared as she stopped uploading lifestyle content and started making videos posing hypothetical questions to her followers about religion
In September, Hinson started an Instagram account for the Lily Jay Foundation and began posting videos of the foundation performing charitable acts throughout Africa and the Middle East. She has since been accused of using AI in these videos
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In May, a press release by the PR company Real Media Group also claimed Lily had won the Austral-Global Excellence Award for Humanitarian Leadership. However, these photos were also debunked as AI-generated
According to the ABC investigation, her personal Instagram account is being run out of Cyprus, which is only a short flight or ferry ride away from Turkey.
In August 2024, Hinson made a sudden pivot as she stopped uploading lavish lifestyle content and started making videos posing hypothetical questions to her followers about religion.
At this point, Hinson had shared only a few times in the past that she had converted to Islam, but in late 2024 she began to style herself as a Muslim influencer, slamming atheism and comparing Islamic and Christian beliefs.
The following month, in September, Hinson started an Instagram account for the Lily Jay Foundation and began posting videos of the foundation performing charitable acts throughout Africa and the Middle East.
Hinson now boasts almost 3 million followers across her personal and business account.
Hinson is believed to have worked as a dancer before her foray into Islam and humanitarian influencer work.
There are online claims that she previously performed at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and the Palazzo Manheim in Germany, and even did a stint on So You Think You Can Dance Australia.
However, her IMDb page shows she never made it past auditions on the dancing reality TV show, and there appears to be no verifiable information about her stint at the Moulin Rouge.
Pictured is another AI-generated post Hinson made on her Facebook page, claiming to have had a debate with One Nation leader Pailine Hanson
Hinson also attempted to kick-start a music career with a debut single and music video, titled Renovate, in 2017.
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