As A.I. enables the creation of more fake content, social media platforms risk a loss of credibility with their users who will find other websites to visit, or disconnect entirely, if they can’t trust what they are viewing.
Days after Facebook decided not to take down a “deepfake” video of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg from Instagram, Google’s YouTube has removed a similar video featuring Kim Kardashian. Only this time the cause is copyright violation, not misinformation.
In place of the now unavailable video, a message states that the video’s footage, which appeared in Vogue’s episode of 73 Questions with the social media influencer, belongs to Condé Nast. Both the Zuckerberg and Kardashian videos were created as part of Spectre, an art installation created by artists Bill Posters and Daniel Howe critiquing tactics used to affect decision making.
- The spread of deepfake technology — which uses artificial intelligence to manipulate footage into a scenario that did not actually happen — is forcing social media companies and governments to find new ways to confirm the authenticity of content posted on their sites.
- The removal follows YouTube’s June 5 ban on videos promoting discriminatory superiority of a certain group and hoax content denying facts surrounding “well-documented violent events.”
- Karma Take: Social media platforms need to constantly reevaluate their content curation and community management practices to effectively and rapidly manage misinformation.
