WASHINGTON, Jan 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Facebook will ban deepfake videos ahead
of the US elections but the new policy will still allow heavily edited clips
so long as they are parody or satire, the social media giant said Tuesday.
Deepfake videos are hyper-realistic doctored clips made using artificial
intelligence or programs that have been designed to accurately fake real
human movements.
In a blog published following a Washington Post report, Facebook said it
would begin removing clips that were edited — beyond for clarity and quality
— in ways that “aren’t apparent to an average person” and could mislead
people.
Clips would be removed if they were “the product of artificial
intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes
content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic,” the statement from
Facebook vice-president Monika Bickert said.
However, the statement added: “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.”
US media noted the new guidelines would not cover videos such as the 2019
viral clip — which was not a deepfake — of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that
appeared to show her slurring her words.
Facebook also gave no indication on the number of people assigned to
identify and take down the offending videos, but said videos failing to meet
its usual guidelines would be removed, and those flagged clips would be
reviewed by teams of third-party fact-checkers — among them AFP.
The news agency has been paid by the social media giant to fact-check
posts across 30 countries and 10 languages as part of a program starting in
December 2016, and including more than 60 organisations.
Content labeled “false” is not always removed from newsfeeds but is
downgraded so fewer people see it — alongside a warning explaining why the
post is misleading.