Elon Musk is facing criticism for sharing an AI-made deepfake of presidential candidate Kamala Harris. In the video Musk posted, a computer-generated voice of Kamala Harris called President Biden senile.
The computer-generated voice of Ms. Harris also stated that she has “no clue of how to run the country.” The deepfake was also filled with irony, given that the AI-generated voice said that “as a woman and an African American” she is “the latest diversity hire.”
The video was originally posted by an X account named @MrReaganUSA. The user had originally flagged the post as a parody to comply with X’s terms of use.
The deepfake posted by Elon Musk sparked criticism from Democrats
Unlike the original post, when Elon Musk posted Kamala Harris’s deepfake video he did not say it was a parody. Instead, Mr. Musk simply stated “This is awesome”, with a smiling emoji.
His post quickly hit more than 130 million views on X and sparked avid debate on the platform over the use of AI technology to spread political messages.
Kamala Harris’s campaign did not stay quiet on this controversy. In a statement, they declared “We believe Americans want freedom, opportunities, and real security that the Vice President offers, not the false manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”
Additionally, California Governor Gavin Newson stated on X that “This type of deepfake videos should be illegal.” He also said that he would sign a law that bans this type of content in California.
Elon Musk replied to this statement by Governor Newson by saying “Parody is legal in the United States” while attaching Kamala Harris’s deepfake video to the post.
Does Elon Musk’s post violate X’s policy?
Many analysts suggest that Elon Musk’s deepfake video of Vice President Kamala Harris violates X’s policies against synthetic and manipulated media.
Analysts have pointed out that under X’s policy, “synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm is not allowed on the platform.”
X rules say it first evaluates if the content has been “significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated.”
X’s own rules would suggest that Elon Musk’s deepfake post of Vice President Kamala Harris would be violating the platform rules.
This analysis was echoed by Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar. Senator Klobuchar stated on threads “If Elon Musk and X let this go and don’t label it as altered AI content, they will not only be violating X’s own rules, they’ll be unleashing an entire election season of fake AI voice and image-altered content with no limits, regardless of party.”