Tech activists said Elon Musk violated the platform’s own policies by sharing deepfake videos.
Washington:
Billionaire X owner Elon Musk faced criticism on Monday for sharing a deepfake video of US Vice President Kamala Harris, which tech activists said violated the platform’s own policies.
Musk reposted a doctored video from Harris’ campaign in which a voiceover imitating her calls President Joe Biden senile and declares that she “knows nothing about running the country,” adding that as a woman and a person of color, she is the “ultimate diversity hire.
The video was originally posted by an X account linked to conservative podcaster Chris Kohls and labeled a “parody.”
But Musk’s post on Friday made no such disclosure, simply stating: “This is amazing,” along with a laughing emoji.
Musk’s repost has garnered more than 130 million views and comes amid growing alarm over AI-enabled political disinformation ahead of the US presidential election in November.
“We believe the American people want the true freedom, opportunity and security that Vice President Harris provides; not the fake and manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” Harris’ presidential campaign said in a statement.
With almost 192 million followers, Musk is a highly influential voice on the platform, formerly called Twitter, which he purchased in 2022 in a $44 billion deal.
Earlier this month, Musk endorsed Trump in a post on X, shortly after the Republican narrowly escaped an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, posted on X that Harris’ doctored video “should be illegal” and that he would soon sign a bill banning such media.
A defiant Musk responded to his post, saying that “parody is cool in America,” including the original video below it.
Musk’s repost appeared to violate X’s policies, which prohibit sharing “synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may mislead or confuse people and cause harm.”
X did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
“Ignoring the rules of the road (because) he bought the road,” Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at watchdog Free Press, wrote on X, referring to Musk’s apparent violation of the site’s policies.
Disinformation researchers fear rampant misuse of AI technology in a big election year, thanks to the proliferation of online tools that are cheap and easy to use yet lack sufficient safeguards.
AI-generated content — especially audio, which experts say is difficult to identify — sparked national alarm in January when a fake robocall posing as Biden urged New Hampshire residents not to vote in the state’s primary.
“Platforms play an outsized role in election cycles,” Benavidez wrote. “They must do better.”
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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