On Friday night, Elon Musk, the tech mogul and owner of the X platform, shared an altered video from the campaign of Kamala Harris, vice president of the United States. This video used a voiceover generated using deepfake technology, making Harris appear to say phrases such as: “I was selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire.” This manipulation was not brought to the attention of users, despite the fact that the content was obviously false.
The uncontrolled spread
The video, originally posted by user @MrReaganUSA, who labeled it as a parody, included other false statements such as: “I was four years under the tutelage of the ultimate puppet of the deep state, a wonderful mentor, Joe Biden.”
Despite the content manipulation, Musk’s post, which only added the comment: “This is incredible,” accompanied by a laughing emoji, was not labeled as misleading. According to The New York Times, the post had already racked up over 119 million views.
The curious thing about the matter is that according to X’s policies, users “may not share synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that could mislead or confuse people and cause harm (‘deceptive media’)”. In addition, certain altered media is also allowed to remain on the platform if it is considered memes or satire, “as long as it does not cause confusion about the authenticity of the media”. In this case, the deepfake video shared by Musk seems to have crossed that line, as many people could have been misled/manipulated about the authenticity of Harris’ statements.
The need to label NON-real content
The spread of deepfakes and other types of manipulated media raises serious concerns about influencing public opinion, especially in the context of elections.
In response to these risks, earlier this year, 20 tech companies, including X, signed an agreement pledging to combat “deceptive use of AI” in the 2024 election. Apparently, and as is often the case, agreements and rules are enforced when it is in their interest…
The lack of such labelling in the case of the Harris video shared by Musk highlights the need for stricter and more responsible moderation. How can this be achieved if the person violating it is the owner of the social network itself?
Related and interesting article in Spanish: How to detect AI-generated content
The influence of big figures in politics
At the same time, big influencers like Elon Musk play an important role in politics. With millions of followers, Musk’s posts have a massive reach and the potential to influence public opinion. So it is worrying that figures with so much media power share misleading content without due responsibility.
Obviously, and it is not surprising to anyone, that big influencers often have economic interests that can bias their opinions and actions. This will lead them to manipulate their audiences to serve their own interests or those of their allies.
For this reason, it would be prudent for these individuals to avoid making political statements or sharing political content without verifying its authenticity. What do you think?
Update: To make matters worse, just a few minutes ago, Elon Musk posted on X insinuating that Google is intervening in search results related to candidate Donald Trump. And, shortly after, whether sarcastically or not, he comments “I’m going to buy Google and shut that woke search engine off!”.