Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter remove Zelensky deepfake
YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi said the video and reuploads of it have been removed from the platform because it violates the company’s misinformation policies. “We do allow this video if it provides sufficient education, documentary, scientific or artistic context,” Choi said in a statement.
Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and digital forensics expert, pointed out several of the obvious signs that the video is a deepfake. First, it’s a low-quality, low-resolution recording; this is a common trick to hide the distortions created when making a deepfake, as our brains tend to be more forgiving of glitches in low-quality videos. Second, the Zelensky in the video looks straight ahead without moving his arms throughout the clip — it’s very tricky to make a convincing deepfake that includes head motions and hands moving in front of the face. Third, there are little visual inconsistencies in the video, he pointed out, that occur during the process of making a deepfake, which is created a single frame at a time. Though Zelensky’s voice is harder for Farid to comment on, in part because he doesn’t speak Ukranian, he said it sounds a bit off to him.
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