Dear friends,
In recent weeks, practitioners have alerted us to the existence of YouTube accounts that misuse Thich Nhat Hanh’s voice (AI generated), associating it with messages and teachings which are not his and which have little or nothing in common with Plum Village and Buddhist teachings. These accounts also use tags such as “Plum Village App”, “Plum Village”, or “Thich Nhat Hanh”, as well as Thay’s photos and the Plum Village App illustrations, creating the false impression that they are associated with us.
Though easy for seasoned practitioners to spot, some new practitioners may fall for these fake teachings. They can initially sound like Buddhist teachings, but then distort the message in, at times, disturbing ways.
Our legal teams are working to clarify this situation. However, this is an ongoing problem and, given the availability of new technologies and lack of regulation in the field, this may be the beginning of a long process. Fortunately, you – friends and practitioners who use the Plum Village App and access its material on YouTube – can help.
Here’s how:
Verify content’s authenticity
1. Check the relevant account’s ‘About’ page. If there are no names or links given to the valid websites of associations, organisations, or institutions which the account claims to be associated with, it most likely does not have any official relationship to them.
If any links or names are given, make further research for the names and websites to see whether they’re real and safe. For websites, check to see where they lead and if they are authentic – check ‘Contact’ and ‘About’ pages there, too. You can also see whether the videos’ descriptions share the standard information about resources, credits, their creation, and so on.
2. Do you spot any fake information? An account we recently discovered on YouTube posted a letter from 2025 which claimed to be signed by Thich Nhat Hanh – who passed away in 2022. Such inaccurate information could ring alarm bells, so browse the page rather than focusing on just one video.
3. If you are familiar with existing, authentic videos of Thich Nhat Hanh, questionable videos’ general presentation – a cascade of emojis or a hurried voice, for instance – could be a warning sign.
4. There are even Buddhist teachings that may help you to recognise authentic content. The Plum Village Dharma Seals refer to knowing if you are listening to authentic teachings and if you practicing in the direction of ‘right’ mindfulness. This talk by Sister Chan Duc on understanding the Plum Village path of practice could help too, as well as Brother Phap Hai’s reflections on the importance of authenticity in our lives.
If you suspect a channel of being fake
1. Do let us know. You can contact Plum Village App or the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation.
2. If you are very confident it is a fake account, you can report it directly to YouTube or whichever platform you are using. The more people report them, the greater likelihood that YouTube will pay attention and do something.
3. Leaving comments questioning the material may help, though these can easily be deleted by the channel’s owners.
The Plum Village sangha’s accounts
Plum Village is a global sangha and has several YouTube channels, all of which are linked to websites sharing valid contacts and information. Several channels are maintained by monasteries and sanghas in different regions, using various languages, so do be aware that there are many genuine Plum Village YouTube channels.
We do not have an exhaustive list of all these channels, but you can find out more about Plum Village and its monastic centres around the world, as well as other communities associated with Plum Village and Thich Nhat Hanh, on Plum Village’s main website.
We share Thich Nhat Hanh’s and the Plum Village community’s teachings freely with the world. As long as the material is preserved in the original form and credited, anyone can share links or even republish genuine Plum Village videos of dharma talks, audio meditations, and other material from our websites, social media platforms, and app. Altering any original material to the extent that it becomes unrecognisable and untrue to the core Plum Village teachings is something we do not endorse. We hope that the global sangha will support us in curbing this new trend.
Thank you for your support!
I value Thich Nhat Hanh’s teaching. His quotes on social media are very meaningful to me. I recommend that the Plum Village app be offered wherever posts are made. And more, I recommend that these quotes be made easily available on the app. This would incentivize me to visit the app more often.
Such a valuable bit of information. Life has not been the same since 1/22/22. Any words of Thich’s are comforting.
Dear friend, thank you for you comment. In its current format, every time you access the Plum Village App on your mobile, you are actually greeted by a quote (mainly from Thich Nhat Hanh 🙂 Do have a look and let us know what you think. With gratitude 🙏
Dear Sangha
To understand exactly what you mean, it would be very helpfully to have a german translation. I would appreciate this in such important messages specialy in this times… would it be possible ?
Thank you so much
Love Brigid
Dear Brigitte, thank you for your message. We can only hope our German-speaking sangha will be able to help with this in the near future 🙂 A lotus for you 🙏
I‘m very carefully in hearing Dharma Talks of Thay. I never look to Talks outside of Plum Village, because of abuse. I‘m shocked, that it becomes a bigger dimension including abuse the adresse of Plum Village. I‘ll more mindful yet.
Thank you very much!!
Thank you for reading, dear friend! 🙏
Thank you for this notice. I will share it with our Sangha here in Pittsburgh, PA. _()_
Thank you, George! A lotus for you 🙏
Vielen Dank für die hilfreichen Infos
Ich werde sobald ich was entdecke werde ich mich bei euch melden.
Für mich wäre es das Beste live Retreats zu veranstalten der direkte Kontakt ist das Beste Heilmittel gegen Fake News im Netz.
Das Glück von Thay lernt man nicht im Netz oder ,aus Büchern, sondern beim öffnen des Herzens beim Sharing und dem zärtlichen liebevollen Umgang im Alltag.
(I saw this advice on a YouTube channel).
In YouTube Studio – How to Stop Content Copying & AI impersonation: UNCHECK BOX/ Unallow Third Party AI training permissions
Go To:
YouTube Studio on Desktop computer:
Studio
…Settings
…..Channel
…….Advanced Settings
………Third Party Training
…………UNCHECK BOX FOR= [ ]”Allow Third Party Companies to Train AI models using my Channel Content”
(including permission to use your Voice and Face!)
(MAKE BOX UNCHECKED!!)
WOW. I did not know this, Thank you. 🙏
Thanks, Erin! Yes, that box is unchecked. With gratitude 🙏
So sorry friends for hearing of this intentional inauthentic use of Plum Village and Tay’s name and work. We will keep our eyes and ears open for this and bring questions to you or report to You Tube.
Every moment that we think that we can’t make up a more bizarre thing in our current world, one seems to occur.
The free access you give to teaching, chants and meditations are so inspirational and grounding to many.
Sending you gratitude and blessings in all you do and wisdom in this situation.
Care and concern from Denver friends.
Dear Jeanette, thank you for your sharing here. A lotus for you 🙏
Ich werde drauf achten .i love you i love thay
🙏
I thought this was happening, because I watched a video a few weeks ago that didn’t sound like Thay’s Authentic voice. I will keep an eye and ear out fir more fakes. Thank you for brining this to our attention!
Thank you, Carla! 🙏
Thank you so much for this warning, I had no idea that these so problematic behaviors could apply to buddhist teachings and Thay talks. Challenging phenomenon of our time…
Would it be ethical and helpful for us to be able to see these ‘fake talks’ (you could for instance create somewhere a list of links to fake talks) to see whether we would be able to have our own alarm system raised, based on the content and not on the technic? (technic that progresses so quickly und is ahead of common knowledge. it is still very helpful to be informed about it at some point, which you just did so well )
Just an idea, that might not be a very good idea anyway, coming for a place a fear and judgment 🙈.
With my deep gratitude for all you are doing for our life in the historical dimension 😊🙏🙏🙏
The fact that someone would distort Thay’s teachings is extremely disappointing. I am sorry you are dealing with this and will absolutely be on the lookout for fake accounts. I adore your app and hope to one day be able to visit one of your locations.
Thank you! ❤️