Facebook has banned deepfakes. Sort of

Facebook has banned deepfakes. Sort of. (MIT Technology Review)

• Facebook has announced a policy update that involves removing content that has been edited or synthesized “in ways that aren’t apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say.”
• However, Facebook distinguishes the AI-manipulated so-called deepfakes from “shallow fake” videos which have been edited with readily available tools (e.g. the video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that went viral on the platform last summer).
• As such, the policy will not apply to videos intended to be parody or satire, as well as videos that were only edited to omit or change the order of words.

Analysis and Comments

• Unsurprisingly, Facebook’s deepfake policy is not winning over critics, but it is still a step in the right direction.
• Dealing with so-called cheap or shallow fakes, which make up the majority of misleading videos and often use minimal editing and/or show out-of-context snippets, is much more complicated – who, for instance, decides on what qualifies as satire or parody?
• With the upcoming 2020 US election there is likely to be a lot more news around regulating the spread of misinformation on social media platforms over the next few months – as well as which involved parties are responsible for doing so.
• Interestingly, Snapchat seems to be openly embracing the tech (it uses it to augment its filters) while Facebook (as well as Twitter and Pinterest) are trying to curb the threat of spreading misinformation.

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