Doctored video featured vile false slur, but it wasn’t a deepfake . so that’s OK, then?
Meta’s Oversight Board is probing the social media giant’s policies on deepfake content after Facebook decided against taking down a faked video that falsely labelled US President Joe Biden a pedophile.
The bogus vid adapted footage of Biden placing an « I voted » sticker above his granddaughter Natalie Biden’s chest during America’s 2022 midterm elections.
The seven-second video, shared in May this year, was doctored and looped to make it appear as if the President touched his granddaughter inappropriately, with NSFW lyrics from the song « Simon Says » by rapper Pharoahe Monch playing in the background. A caption in the video wrongly claimed Biden is « a sick pedophile, » and claimed people who voted for him in the election were « mentally unwell. »
Despite a complaint from a user, Meta’s moderators did not remove the clip. The Facebook user who made the report appealed the decision to retain the video, according to the oversight board.
Meta again decided not to remove the fake video, which was admittedly viewed fewer than 30 times as of last month, because it was not generated using AI and passed off as authentic nor did it feature any manipulation of Biden’s speech to make him seem like he said something he never uttered.
The complainant eventually raised the issue with the oversight board, an independent panel of experts recruited by Meta to review content moderation policies.
