The initiative is part of Facebook’s efforts to ban ‘manipulated content’ on the platform.
The world’s largest social network, Facebook, recently announced that it will ban deepfakes on the platform. Deepfakes are videos which are manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to make someone say things they didn’t actually say. The initiative is part of Facebook’s efforts to ban “manipulated content” on the platform.
“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 said in a blog post.
Facebook submitted two criteria for banning such videos. The first being if a video 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.” The company noted that AI, photoshop etc. are also used for improving quality of videos, so such instances will be allowed on the platform.
That said, the company has said that a video will be banned if it “is a product of artificial intelligence or machine learning that merges, replaces or superimposes content onto a video, making it appear to be authentic.”
Videos will also be subject to Facebook’s fact-checking guidelines, meaning that they will be checked by the company’s human fact checkers as well. The company noted that all posts, including videos, which violate its Community Guidelines will still be banned.
According to Facebook, the reach of a photo or video on the platform is “significantly” reduced if it is tagged as “false or partly false” by its team of fact checkers. It also gives alerts to people who are trying to share it with their friends.
The company’s move comes ahead of the United States’ (US) elections later this year. While Facebook has taken various steps to avoid misleading content on the platform earlier, it has been under intense scrutiny for spreading misinformation as well.
