A hospital pharmacist alleged to be a key figure behind a popular deepfake porn site is now on leave, according to the CEO of the Toronto-area hospital network that employs him.
Last week, CBC News’s visual investigations unit — in collaboration with open-source investigative outlet Bellingcat and Danish publications Politiken and Tjekdet — published an investigation that found David Do, a pharmacist in the Oak Valley Health network, played a prominent role in the operations of MrDeepFakes.com.
MrDeepFakes, which went offline this month, was the most popular site globally for deepfake porn. The site hosted tens of thousands of non-consensual and sometimes violent deepfake videos and images of celebrities, politicians, social media influencers and private citizens, including Canadians.
Do’s alleged role in the site was pieced together using data from the web, public records and forensic analysis of the site.
In light of the allegations, Do is not working at Markham Stouffville Hospital and Uxbridge Hospital while an internal investigation is conducted, Oak Valley Health president and CEO Mark Fam told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning Tuesday.
“He’s off right now,” Fam said, without going into detail about the nature of Do’s leave.
“I want to be clear that as an organization, we unequivocally condemn the creation or distribution of any form of violent or non-consensual sexual imagery,” Fam said. “We have to do our investigation to understand the allegations brought forward.”
Fam said hospital staff and patients have raised concerns since the allegations against Do were made public.
“Our focus right now is taking care of our team,” Fam said.
Oak Valley’s internal investigators are working closely with the Ontario College of Pharmacists as they look into the allegations, he added.
The Ontario College of Pharmacists’ code of ethics says no member should engage in “any form of harassment,” including “displaying or circulating offensive images or materials.”
The college previously told CBC News the allegations “are extremely serious” and that it was “taking immediate steps to look into this matter further and determine the necessary actions we need to take to protect the public.”
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Do has not responded to multiple requests for comment emailed by CBC News over a period of several weeks. When a reporter hand-delivered a letter to Do at Markham Stouffville Hospital, where he was working as an in-patient pharmacist on April 11, he said, “I don’t know anything about that.”
On May 5, a CBC News reporter again approached Do in an attempt to interview him about his role in the website. Do told the reporter he didn’t want to be recorded and that he was busy, before driving away in his vehicle.
MrDeepFakes.com went offline on May 4, just before the findings of the joint investigation were published.
Although sharing non-consensual deepfake porn is illegal in several countries, including Australia, South Korea and the U.K., it’s not a crime in Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to pass a law criminalizing it during his federal election campaign.
