Some of the most popular Fortnite custom content creators and studios are using young women in their ads, but not making it clear whether the woman made the map or is just a spokesperson. This is causing frustration among some female Fortnite creators trying to find success online with their own maps.

User-generated content is becoming a bigger and bigger part of Epic’s online battle royale metaverse, Fortnite. Some popular maps have tens of thousands of players online at one time. Some user-created maps and modes can even become more popular than Fortnite’s official modes. And the creators and teams behind these maps can make a lot of money if one of their creations goes viral, thanks to Epic’s system for paying developers based on how long people play custom maps and how often they come back to them. Some creators are making millions of dollars from these maps.

As you might expect, that amount of money floating around means there are people trying to gain any edge they can in the Fortnite clout economy, including misleading players about who is actually behind new user-generated content. A new report from GamesBeat dives deep into the ongoing controversy around male Fortnite creators and large content studios primarily using young women in social videos and online posts without always disclosing how that woman is actually connected to the map or mode being advertised.

Pandvil is one of the most followed and highest-earning Fortnite creators around. And if you look at some posts online, you’d likely believe that Pandvil is a woman. There’s even a meme that references people discovering that the creator is a woman. However, that’s reportedly not the case. GamesBeat spoke to three individuals who have knowledge of the real-life creator’s identity and who claimed the woman seen in many of Pandvil’s videos isn’t the creator. Instead, she’s allegedly a social media manager employed by the creator’s studio, further blurring the lines between spokesperson and developer.

Pandvil seems to lean into the idea of him being a young woman, and he’s not alone. GamesBeat reports that Fortnite creators Team Hive and UNC Creative also post many videos online featuring women who aren’t the creators of the maps they’re promoting. Though in Hive’s case, they do openly employ women who act as the studio’s social media and marketing team. And while women have been used to market products, including games, for a very long time, the parasocial nature of online creator spaces makes this different.

If you are just randomly scrolling through your feed and stumble upon one of these videos, you might assume the creator is the young woman in the video describing the new map or mode, not realizing she’s just a paid spokesperson or community manager. Other female island creators who spoke to GamesBeat shared frustrations and misgivings with this marketing strategy. They felt that it could hurt them financially by taking away possible media coverage and brand deals or siphoning away players.

Mackenzie Bell, the co-founder of content studio Alliance Studios, didn’t blame creators using women in ads, but instead wants Epic to make to improve the Fortnite creator ecosystem. “It’s less about calling out the individual creators or teams and more about addressing the overall systemic issues,” Bell told GamesBeat. “If the platform and the creator economy balance itself better, with stronger discovery tools, more equitable payouts and support for diverse voices, I think creators wouldn’t feel as pressured to lean into potentially misleading marketing just to survive.”