On Wednesday, the deepfake went viral online, as previously spotted by Vice’s Motherboard. In the video reviewed by CNN Business, Zelenskiy appears to be standing behind the presidential podium and in front of a backdrop, both of which feature the coat of arms of Ukraine. Wearing a green shirt, Zelensky speaks Ukrainian, as if telling Ukrainians to lay down their arms in a weeks-long war against Russia. Deep fakes that combine the terms “deep learning” and “fake” look convincing but are false videos. and audio files. Created using advanced and relatively affordable artificial intelligence technologies, they are designed to show how a real person does or says something that he did not do. Experts have long been concerned that as they improve, they will be used to spread disinformation. wrote that the company noticed and removed the video earlier in the day. “We quickly reviewed and removed this video for violating our policy against misleading manipulated media and notified our colleagues on other platforms,” he wrote.
YouTube spokeswoman Ivy Choi said the videos and re-uploads were removed from the platform because they violate the company’s misinformation policy. “We allow this video if it provides sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic context,” Choi said in a statement.
A Twitter spokesperson said the company monitors how a video is shared on the social network and takes “enforcement action” in cases where it violates the company’s policies (for example, synthetic and manipulated media politics, which prevents users from sharing modified content that could confuse people or cause harm; in some cases, Twitter may flag tweets containing misleading media to give users more context).While the video doesn’t look heavily faked, there are some clear indications that the video is not what it seems. And Zelensky himself appeared on the video published on the official Twitter account for the defense of Ukraine, saying that he continues to defend Ukraine and refuses to lay down his arms against Russia.
Hani Farid, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a digital forensics expert, pointed to several clear signs that the video is a deepfake. First, it’s a low-quality, low-resolution recording; this is a common trick to hide the distortion that comes with creating a deepfake, as our brains tend to be more forgiving of low quality video glitches. Secondly, Zelensky is looking straight ahead in the video, without moving his arms throughout the entire clip – it is very difficult to make a convincing deepfake that includes head movements and hand movements in front of his face. Thirdly, he noted that there are small visual inconsistencies in the video that occur during the deepfake process, which is created one frame at a time. While Farid finds it difficult to comment on Zelenskiy’s voice, in part because he doesn’t speak Ukrainian, he said it sounds a bit off to him.
The video comes weeks after the official Facebook account of the Ukrainian Ground Forces posted a warning that such videos by Zelenskiy might surface. “Beware – it’s fake!” – wrote an account, and soon added: “Be sure – Ukraine will not capitulate!” This warning was accompanied by an image showing Zelensky wearing the same shirt as in the deepfake video, against the same backdrop and behind the same podium.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the video could still be found online, such as in some CNN Business posts found on Twitter and YouTube in which users made it clear that it was a deepfake.
While Farid doesn’t think the video fooled people, he does think it “muddles the waters of information” making it harder for anyone to trust what they see.
“Questioning what you see, hear and read is a very powerful weapon in the information war, and deepfakes are now playing their part,” Farid said.