[imagesource:youtube]
So we all know where Elon Musk stands in the American political race between the Republican Party’s Donald Trump and the Democratic Party’s Kamala Harris (taken over from old man Joe Biden).
When Trump’s little ear got nipped by some kid’s bullet at a rally, Elon went all out endorsing the redhead on his platform X, formerly Twitter, which is interesting considering he’s previously described himself as a ‘libertarian’ who supported Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and now Trump in 2024.
This probably just adds to the data that US men are turning more conservative over time.
Anyway, completely neglecting his company’s own policies against synthetic and manipulated media, Musk shared a deepfake video spoofing Vice President Kamala Harris on X.
The fake news video that Musk shared last week alters a recent campaign video Harris released, one that makes it sound like the presidential candidate said things she didn’t, per The Verge.
The manipulated clip has Harris saying things like she is “the ultimate diversity hire” and that she “had four years under the tutelage of the ultimate deep state puppet, a wonderful mentor, Joe Biden.”
The original account posted the video with the caption “Kamala Harris Campaign Ad PARODY” – a disclaimer that might prevent it from violating X’s policies. But this context did not appear in Musk’s repost. Instead, Musk posted the video alone, adding his own commentary: “This is amazing,” with a laughing emoji.
This is the latest example of how AI-altered media is playing a role in this election cycle and how the law has not fully caught up to deal with it.
Earlier this year, for example, a robocall that used AI to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice urged New Hampshire voters to stay home during the primary. And election officials are training for how AI could get in the way on Election Day or in the lead-up to it, while rules around AI disclosures in ads remain in development or pending votes.
Since there are no overarching regulations, platforms like X are free to come up with their own rules around misinformation.
Under X’s policies, “synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm” is not allowed on the platform. X says it first evaluates if the content has been “significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated,” which it says includes “overdubbed audio” that’s been added or edited “that fundamentally changes the understanding, meaning, or context of the media.”
X then also considers the context, like whether it’s being presented as reality, as well as if the content could lead to “widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety, or cause serious harm”.
X says that satire doesn’t violate the policy as long as it doesn’t “cause significant confusion about the authenticity of the media.”
Even a lenient reading of these policies would suggest that Musk’s post violated these rules.
Well, if time hasn’t already shown us, Elon Musk will do whatever the heck he likes and stuff the consequences. Meanwhile, his X CEO Linda Yaccarino may be tasked with squashing the fire after her boss’s actions.
Just be careful with what you watch and believe on X, mates.
[source:theverge]
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