Elon Musk posted a fake campaign video of Kamala Harris on his social network X without noting that it was an altered video. This violates the rules of the social network.
The video published by Musk belongs to the category of deepfakes. The altered video uses a fake voice that sounds like Kamala Harris’s. In it, the Democratic presidential candidate makes several vocal remarks, such as calling herself the best option for diversity, saying she spent 4 years under the tutelage of a puppet, and accusing all those who disagree of racism and sexism.
This video was originally posted by the account @MrReaganUSA, stating that it is a «PARODY of Kamala Harris’ campaign ad». This is a mandatory disclaimer required by the X rules. However, when the same video was posted by Elon Musk, this notice of parody and altered content did not appear. Instead, Musk simply showed the video in the post, adding his own comment «This is amazing» with a laughing to tears emoji.
This is amazing 😂
pic.twitter.com/KpnBKGUUwn— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 26, 2024
According to rules X, users «may not share synthetic, manipulative or out-of-context media that may mislead or confuse people and cause harm («misleading media»)». According to the rules, such a message should have been deleted by the social network administration.
But breaking the rules is not a problem if the offender is the owner of the social network. The fake video was published on Friday and is still available on the platform. Since then, it has been viewed almost 130 million times. The post was not labeled as misleading, which the site sometimes does if it recognizes certain media as such. Also, no comments about disinformation were added to it using the Community Notes fact-checking tool, although The New York Times notes that several such comments were offered. According to Policy X, modified media files may remain on the site in some cases and will not be flagged as misleading. This includes memes and satire, «provided they do not cause significant confusion about the authenticity of the media».
In recent years, there has been growing concern about the possibility of using dipshits to influence voters’ opinions in the run-up to elections. Earlier this year, 20 tech companies signed an agreement pledging to help fight «fraudulent use of artificial intelligence» in the 2024 elections, including X. But this did not stop Musk from breaking the rules and commitments of the platform.
Source: Engadget
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