Deepfakes and Disinformation: The Growing Threat of Weaponized Technology
The key takeaway is that new technologies like AI and deepfakes are being used to spread misinformation and interfere with elections, while social media companies are struggling to adequately address these issues.
Summary
- New Hampshire's attorney general has linked Texas companies to deepfake Biden robocalls aimed at discouraging Democrat participation in the NH primary. A criminal investigation is underway.
- The Biden administration announced a new policy to ban people who use commercial spyware to surveil journalists, activists, and marginalized groups from entering the US.
- A thread discussed the use of AI to generate misinformation portraying Trump as friendly to Black voters. This builds on past efforts and will likely continue.
- Meta's Oversight Board agreed with allowing a doctored video of Biden on Facebook, though it criticized the company's policies around manipulated media as "incoherent" and "confusing."
- A federal judge is allowing Texas to proceed with a lawsuit against Yelp after it warned users about limited medical services at some crisis pregnancy centers.
- Apple released its $3,500 Vision Pro virtual reality headset, seen as a step up from Meta's headset. There are questions around VR's effects on the brain.
- Elon Musk spread the conspiracy theory on X that Democrats allow migrants to boost their electoral chances.
- At a Senate hearing, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to families of those negatively affected by the company's platforms, but wouldn't agree to compensate them.