Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Investing

Warren Buffett — worried about impersonators — says he doesn’t endorse candidates or investments

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.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

    You May Also Like

    Editor's Pick

    AwesomeQA Revolutionizes Customer Support with $2.8M ICO Key Points AwesomeQA is launching a token sale with an ERC20 utility token, having already raised $2,800,000,...

    Editor's Pick

    Nio Secures Approval for Third Factory, Boosting EV Capacity Quick Look: Nio’s Expansion: Nio received approval for a third factory in China, aligning its...

    Editor's Pick

    USDCAD and USDCNH: USDCAD remains stable above 1.36700 During this morning’s Asian trading session, USDCAD pulled back to the EMA200 moving average. Today, we...

    Editor's Pick

    Nifty goes to new all-time high again, German 40 recovers The Nifty index continues its bullish trend, climbing to a new all-time high this...



    Disclaimer: Techreportdiversity.com, its managers, its employees, and assigns (collectively “The Company”) do not make any guarantee or warranty about what is advertised above. Information provided by this website is for research purposes only and should not be considered as personalized financial advice. The Company is not affiliated with, nor does it receive compensation from, any specific security. The Company is not registered or licensed by any governing body in any jurisdiction to give investing advice or provide investment recommendation. Any investments recommended here should be taken into consideration only after consulting with your investment advisor and after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company.


    Copyright © 2024 Techreportdiversity.com