Elon Musk Defends Sharing Deepfake of Kamala Harris
Tesla founder and X owner, Elon Musk, remains unapologetic after sharing a deepfake video of Vice President Kamala Harris on his platform.
In recent years, deepfake technology has advanced significantly, enabling the creation of highly realistic but fake videos. These deepfakes have been used in scams and misinformation, making it increasingly difficult to trust what we see online.
A deepfake video featuring Vice President Kamala Harris recently surfaced, and Musk reposted it on X without labeling it as a deepfake, which violates the platform's own policies. The video, posted on July 27th, has amassed over 132 million views.
The Controversial Video
The video Musk shared is a manipulated campaign clip with an AI-generated voiceover mimicking Harris. In the video, the fake Harris refers to herself as the "ultimate diversity hire" and a "deep state puppet." Despite the backlash, Musk has neither taken down the video nor altered his caption, which reads: "This is amazing 😂."
This incident occurred just days before X was accused of suspending the account of "White Dudes for Harris," a group that had raised $3 million in a fundraiser.
Public and Political Response
California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized Musk's actions, tweeting that manipulating voices in such a manner should be illegal. He highlighted a bill the Senate is working on to combat AI-driven misinformation, abuse, and fraud, a topic also recently addressed by Microsoft.
Musk's response to Newsom was dismissive: “I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America.” While the original poster of the video flagged it as parody, Musk did not.
X’s Policy on Deepfakes
X's policy on synthetic and manipulated media states: “You may not share synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm.” For action to be taken, a post must include significantly altered media shared deceptively or with false context, causing widespread confusion.
The platform investigates whether media has been fundamentally altered in a way that changes its understanding, meaning, or context. This helps determine whether a post should be removed. Despite these guidelines, Musk's repost of the deepfake remains online.
