Facebook said in an announcement on Monday that deepfake videos and manipulated media would be barred...
Facebook said in an announcement on Monday that deepfake videos and manipulated media would be barred from the social-media site.
The company said in a statement that it was taking a multipronged approach to address the issue, including investigating deceptive behaviors in artificially generated content and partnering with academia, government, and industry to better identify manipulated content.
Videos that are flagged will be subject to review by third-party fact-checkers to determine whether the content is false.
In September, Facebook's chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, said the company was making its own deepfake content so it could better detect manipulated content for removal, Business Insider's Alexei Oreskovic reported.
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Facebook said in an announcement Monday that deepfake videos and manipulated media would be banned from the social-media site.
The company said in a statement that it was taking a multipronged approach to address the issue, including investigating deceptive behaviors in artificially generated content and partnering with academia, government, and industry to better identify manipulated content.
"Manipulations can be made through simple technology like Photoshop or through sophisticated tools that use artificial intelligence or 'deep learning' techniques to create videos that distort reality — usually called 'deepfakes,'" the company said in a statement. "While these videos are still rare on the internet, they present a significant challenge for our industry and society as their use increases."
The company defined the type of deepfake content that would be removed from the site as the following:
It has been edited or synthesized — beyond adjustments for clarity or quality — in ways that aren't apparent to an average person and would likely mislead someone into thinking that a subject of the video said words that they did not actually say.
It is the product of artificial intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic.
The policy does not affect content that is manipulated for the purpose of comedy or satire, the company said in the statement.
Videos that are flagged will be subject to review by third-party fact-checkers to determine whether the content is false. At that point, Facebook will "significantly reduce its distribution" on the News Feed or reject it, if it is attempting to run as an ad.
Moreover, people who attempt to share the content before it is removed from the site will be issued a warning to alert them the content is false.
The company added that it established a partnership with Reuters to "help newsrooms worldwide to identify deepfakes and manipulated media through a free online training course."
"News organizations increasingly rely on third parties for large volumes of images and video, and identifying manipulated visuals is a significant challenge," the statement said. "This program aims to support newsrooms trying to do this work."
In September, Facebook's chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, said the company was making its own deepfake content so it could better detect manipulated content for removal, Business Insider's Alexei Oreskovic reported.
"The goal of the challenge is to produce technology that everyone can use to better detect when AI has been used to alter a video in order to mislead the viewer," Schroepfer wrote in a September blog post.
Last year, the company faced significant backlash from members of Congress, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, for its policy on fact-checking political ads.
Citing free speech, Facebook said in most instances it would not fact-check political ads. The policy quickly came under scrutiny, especially when President Donald Trump ran political ads with false claims about former Vice President Joe Biden.
"Posts and ads from politicians are generally not subjected to fact-checking," according to Facebook's policy. "In evaluating when this applies we ask our fact-checking partners to look at politicians at every level."
Read more:
Facebook is making deepfake videos using paid actors so that it can help researchers better detect fake footage
The head of Instagram says the company still hasn't taken down a fake video of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg because 'the damage is done'
Facebook might start treating deep fakes differently than fake news, Zuckerberg says
SEE ALSO: From porn to 'Game of Thrones': How deepfakes and realistic-looking fake videos hit it big
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