Facebook Leaves Deepfake of Zuckerberg on Instagram Despite Altered Content
Facebook keeps a manipulated video of Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram, choosing to flag it as fake rather than remove it. This decision highlights the company's emerging policy regarding doctored media ahead of upcoming US elections.
A deepfake video featuring Mark Zuckerberg circulates on Instagram, showing the Facebook CEO claiming to have total control over billions of people's stolen data. Artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe created the manipulated clip in partnership with Israeli AI startup Canny as part of an art exhibition called Spectre. The video uses artificial intelligence to alter a two-year-old clip of Zuckerberg discussing Russian election interference.
Instead of removing the synthetic media, Facebook applies an emerging policy that leaves manipulated videos on its platform while clearly flagging them as fake. This approach mirrors the company's recent handling of a doctored video of Nancy Pelosi, which remained online but received disclaimers from third-party fact-checkers and suffered reduced visibility in news feeds.
The ease of creating and spreading such deepfakes causes growing alarm among policymakers who worry about the impact on future elections. In response to this escalating threat, US representatives hold the country's first congressional hearing on deepfakes and introduce new legislation designed to clamp down on the distribution of deceptive AI-generated media.