Facebook Bans Deepfake Videos Ahead Of US 2020 Elections

Facebook will remove deepfakes and other manipulated videos from its platform if they have been edited, in the run-up to the US election in November.

In a move aimed at curbing misinformation ahead of the US presidential election, the social network is vowing to strengthen its policy regarding manipulated videos.

Deepfakes are videos of a person who has been altered with someone else’s likeness using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

 Deepfake videos are used to produce or alter video content so that it presents something that didn’t, in fact, occur.

The technology has increasingly become an issue in the last year due to its ability to contribute to the spread of fake news, misplaced identify and even fraud.

But Facebook will stop short of removing content that is deemed ‘parody or satire’, it said in a blog post on Monday.

Facebook will remove ‘misleading manipulated media’ if it has been edited or synthesized beyond adjustments for clarity or quality in ways that aren’t apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video.

It will also be removing videos if it fits the criteria of being the product of AI or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic.

‘While these videos are still rare on the internet, they present a significant challenge for our industry and society as their use increases,’ the company said.

‘This policy does not extend to content that is parody or satire, or video that has been edited solely to omit or change the order of words,’ it adds.

In the run-up to the US presidential election in November 2020, social platforms have been under pressure to tackle the threat of deepfakes, which use artificial intelligence to create hyper-realistic videos where a person appears to say or do something they did not.