There is little oversight of deepfakes exploiting Taylor Swift images
The Issue of Taylor Swift in the X-York Facebook Page: A Social Media Analog to a Propagation of the Israel-HAMAS War
There are a few states that have laws prohibiting nonconsensual deep fakes, as well as moves to ban it on the federal level. Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-New York) has introduced a bill in Congress that would make it illegal to create and share deepfake porn without a person’s consent. Another House bill from Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-New York) seeks to give legal recourse to victims of deepfake porn. The Representative, who in November introduced a bill that would require the labeling of AI content, used Taylor Swift’s photo to draw attention to his efforts.
The company is being investigated by the EU because of allegations that they are being used to distribute illegal content, and also because of the fact that misinformation about the Israel-HAMAS war was promoted across the platform.
The issue made headlines this week, as bogus pornographic images purporting to show pop superstar Taylor Swift proliferated on X (formerly known as Twitter), Telegram and elsewhere. The postings were removed, but not before many racked up millions of views.
The policies of X forbid the hosting of synthetic and manipulated media and nonconsensual nudity on the platform. X has not responded to our request.
One of the most prominent examples on X attracted more than 45 million views, 24,000 reposts, and hundreds of thousands of likes and bookmarks before the verified user who shared the images had their account suspended for violating platform policy. A post was live on the platform for 17 hours before it was removed.
The Brennan Center for Justice Reports on Facebook, Malwaretips.com, and a YouTube ad urging users to click on a link to obtain a new computer
A recent ploy that was reported by Malwaretips.com was to trick people into signing up for expensive subscriptions online.
“If you’re watching this video, you’re part of a fortunate group of 10,000 people who have the chance to obtain the Macbook Pro for just $2,” the ersatz Aniston says in the ad. “I’m Jennifer Aniston,” the video falsely states, urging people to click a link to claim their new computer.
Penalties relating to revenge porn and other crimes, as well as proposed limits and requirements on videos relating to political campaigns and elections are included in many laws and proposals. But some companies are acting on their own — such as last year, when Google, and then Meta, announced they would require political ads to carry a label if they were made with AI.
But as the Brennan Center for Justice reports, those and other state laws have varying standards and focus on different content modes. The center said last month that at least eight bills were filed to regulate deep fakes and similar media.
The law professor said last month that law should be reintroduced, because the internet and air quotes are often viewed as the Wild West.
Source: Deepfakes exploiting Taylor Swift images exemplify a scourge with little oversight
What lies lie? The problem of making fake videos and images, and how to stop the lie and show it in the media haystack
There are new types of lies, like deepfake images and video, which humanity has been dealing with for thousands of years. She said the problem is that the lies are being presented in video form and that they tend to hit people on a level not seen before. And in the best deepfakes, the lies are shrouded by sophisticated technology that’s extremely hard to detect.
In that experiment, the researchers paired authentic audio of Obama talking with computer-manipulated video. It showed that the power of a video could potentially put words into the mouth of one of the most powerful people on the planet.
The risks were highlighted years ago — notably in 2017, when researchers used what they called “a visual form of lip-syncing” to generate several very realistic videos of former President Barack Obama speaking.
These are moments we’ve seen before. In recent years deep fake videos showing Tom Cruise in a variety of odd settings have racked up hundreds of millions of views. That project, created by cameraman and visual effects artist Chris Umé and Cruise impersonator Miles Fisher, is fairly benign compared to many other deepfake campaigns, and the videos carry a watermark label reading “#deeptomcruise,” nodding at their non-official status.
Several bills focused on deepfakes remain in Congress, as a new crop of deep fake videos and images is causing a stir.
Swift’s image has been attacked as a reminder of how easy it is to make deepfakes in recent years. A number of apps allow the swapping of a person’s face onto other media with high fidelity and the latest version promises to use artificial intelligence to generate even more convincing images and video.
“It is morphing women’s faces into porn, stealing their identities, coercing sexual expression, and giving them an identity that they did not choose,” Citron said last month on a podcast from the University of Virginia, where she teaches and writes about privacy, free expression and civil rights at the university’s law school.
The content is easy to find on search engines and social media, and has affected other female celebrities and teenagers. Many people do not understand the full extent of the problem. Swift’s media mania has the potential to change that.
The leak of nude photos of celebrities, likeKateUpton and Jennifer Lawrence, is an example of why there should be greater protection of people’s digital identities. Apple beefed up security features.
The Symbolic Sum of $1: A reminder of the value of all women in a cultural and political situation, as Swift and Baldridge pointed out
This isn’t the first time that Swift or Swifties have tried to hold platforms and people accountable. In 2017, Swift won a lawsuit she brought against a radio DJ who she claimed groped her during a meet-and-greet. Douglas Baldridge said the symbolic sum of $1 was an example of the value of all women in this situation.
