Earlier this week, a video was uploaded to Instagram that appeared to feature Mark Zuckerberg. The video, which is actually a fake, is called a deepfake. Essentially, deepfake is a human-generated image synthesis technique based on artificial intelligence and used to create fake videos or fake news.
The publication of this deepfake video has, as expected, aroused the curiosity of the world regarding the company's reaction to this fake product that is defamatory of Zuckerberg himself. However, to everyone's surprise, the company's response was that they will not take down the video and will follow the tactics followed according to their policy.
The basis from which they derived the deepfake was a 7-minute video that the company's CEO created in 2017 to analyze an issue that was of concern to him at the time. The company's policy is that even this video, which defames the founder of Facebook, will be treated in the same way as any misinformation on Instagram. If the evidence that emerges from the check proves that it is fake, they will filter it from Instagram's recommendations.
The motivations for this tactic may also have to do with the events of May. Towards the end of last month, a deepfake video was leaked, involving politician Nancy Patricia Pelosi. In it, the politician herself appeared in a bad state, looking drunk. Then the company announced what steps would be taken, namely that the video would not be taken down even if it went viral. This drew criticism.
Shortly afterwards, Neil Potts, Facebook's director of public policy, testified before Congress that the company would follow the same policy if a deepfake appeared on one of its platforms involving Zuckerberg.
As is happening now, it's Zuckerberg's turn to be confronted with his own deepfake video.
