Does Elon Musk Have A Chinese Doppelganger? Or Is The New Viral Video A Deepfake?

China has a long history of creating knockoffs of U.S. products, but now it seems to have produced its own version of Tesla TSLA chief Elon Musk.

What Happened: A 13-second video emerged on Douyin, a Chinese app similar to TikTok, that showed a Chinese man who bears a too-close-to-comfort resemblance to Musk posing by a car in a garage.

The video quickly went viral across global social media, with some net denizens dubbing the man “Yi Long Musk.” The identity of the man in the video has not been established, but many social media viewers have declared the video to be a deepfake, with Musk’s face being digitally transposed on the man.

Why It Happened: Musk is one of the most popular U.S. corporate leaders in China. In October, the Chinese tech news portal ithome.com released data that showed 273 companies in China have trademarked either a brand or product using Musk's name or the Chinese version of his name — all without his permission.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal estimated Tesla most likely manufactures more than half its vehicles in China, with Chinese sales making up nearly one-quarter of the company’s revenue during the first nine months of this year.

And as opposed to Musk’s tart comments about the Biden administration, Musk has lavished praise on China as a “global leader in digitalization.” In July, Musk marked the centennial of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party by declaring, “The economic prosperity that China has achieved is truly amazing, especially in infrastructure!”

Photo: Screen shot of "Yi Long Musk"