Posted on 03/16/2022 10:21:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin
A fake and heavily manipulated video depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy circulated on social media and was placed on a Ukrainian news website by hackers Wednesday before it was debunked and removed.
The video, which shows a rendering of the Ukrainian president appearing to tell his soldiers to lay down their arms and surrender the fight against Russia, is a so-called deepfake that ran about a minute long.
It is not yet clear who created the deepfake, but government officials in Ukraine have been warning for weeks about the possibility of Russia spreading manipulated videos as part of its information warfare. Ukraine's military intelligence agency released a video this month about how state-sponsored deepfakes could be used to sow panic and confusion.
While the video shows a passable lip-sync, viewers quickly pointed out that Zelenskyy's accent was off and that his head and voice did not appear authentic upon close inspection.
Officials at Facebook, YouTube and Twitter said the video was removed from their platforms for violating policies. On Russian social media, meanwhile, the deceptive video was boosted.
"This is the first one we've seen that really got some legs, but I suspect it's the tip of the iceberg," said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who is an expert in digital media forensics.
A deepfake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calling on his soldiers to lay down their weapons was reportedly uploaded to a hacked Ukrainian news website today, per @Shayan86 pic.twitter.com/tXLrYECGY4
— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) March 16, 2022 In a video posted to his Telegram channel, Zelenskyy responded to the fake video by saying: "We are defending our land, our children, our families. So we don't plan to lay down any arms. Until our victory."
The message was not just displayed across social media, however. It also appeared briefly on television in Ukraine and on a news broadcaster's website.
The national television station Ukraine 24 confirmed that hackers managed to send the fake Zelenskyy message across live television on the scrolling-text news crawl known as "the ticker," and the video showed up briefly on the news station's website. It was the work of "enemy hackers," the station said.
The messages the hackers managed to broadcast through Ukraine 24 urged Ukrainians to stop fighting and give up their weapons. They also falsely stated that Zelenskyy had fled Kyiv, according to the Atlantic Council's Eurasia researcher Roman Osadchuk.
The messages were amplified on VKontakte, the social network comparable to Facebook that is popular in Russia and controlled by allies of the Kremlin, Osadchuk noted.
Researchers said that despite the deepfake not being particularly sophisticated, it should still be considered dangerous.
"The deepfake is not very well done," said Sam Gregory of the human rights group Witness, which specializes in detecting inauthentic media in crises.
He said the Ukrainian government getting out in front of the deepfake by warning about manipulated videos weeks before this one was released, as well as Zelenskyy himself quickly saying it was a fake, helped slow its spread in the West, but it is possible that lower-quality versions of the video could take on a life of their own in other parts of the world.
"If you look at other contexts globally where the deepfake is poor quality, or of good enough quality to create room for doubt, and it's not so easy to challenge it directly," Gregory said.
Furthermore, the video, regardless of where it came from and its quality, could potentially make some people question the veracity of videos of Zelenskyy in the future, researchers said.
"The particular issue is also around the so-called liar's dividend, where it's easy to claim a true video is falsified and place the onus on people to prove it's authentic," Gregory said.
Farid added: "It pollutes the information ecosystem, and it casts a shadow on all content, which is already dealing with the complex fog of war," he said. "The next time the president goes on television, some people might think, 'Wait a minute — is this real?' "
A Twitter spokeswoman said the company will allow the video in instances where it was shared to expose it as a fake. But if the video is being posted to deceive people, it will be taken down, the company said.
The First Deepfake War.
Lol. 1st deepfake? Ghost of Kiev. Snake Island. Paratrooper planes. The list of priors is long and distinguished.
Or first “deep fake false flag”
Instead of my dog…the Russians ate my homework and also colluded with Trump.
Doing anything serious on Twitter is a waste of time these days.
Many of the Twitter people - including the bluechecks - are brain-damaged morons.
Never saw the point of Twitter
Screw the Twittsewer, and the horse it rode in on.
Those @rsewholes delete and hide so much stuff, it's impossible to tell which end is up over there.
Not only that - you're wading through the tweets of effing morons who need instructions to keep breathing.
It was an awesome tool to help Trump until they figured out how to stop that shizz.
You can also get up-to-the-minute breaking news in some instances.
Now the retardednoise to signal ratio is almost too high to get worthwhile information. You would not BELIEVE how stupid most of those people are.
I had an account but I closed it when President Trump was banned. Same with Facebook (which was a harder decision as I had a lot of family stuff). Don’t miss them. I don’t watch T.V anymore. I do use the T.V to watch a dvd but thats all. When I am at someones place with T.V ads and stuff on, I don’t like it.
Wow, Laura Logan puts so many things together.
Whenever I see the word “experts” in the title of an article it makes me want to laugh.
Got rid of cable and broadcast TeeVee in 2004.
Big screen tv for DVDs.
When I am at someones place with T.V ads and stuff on, I don’t like it.
Same here. I make snide comments.
Must be why they're attacking her full throttle.
Feels good to take control huh. Felt like my mind was cleaned a bit.
I had a very long drive today and was able to glean a fair amount ...
The war is over except for what to do about Azov
And some exchanges here and there with Ukes in the cities where they are holed up
A deal will get done
Basically what Pootie has always demanded
This didn’t need a war
The west is as much responsible for provoking it as Pootie is for invading
The propaganda is getting folks killed ....utterly false hope
It’s ridiculous
She said Pelosi and Romney have children making money in Ukraine. Someone on FR yesterday made that assertion and was contradicted immediately by someone else. What is the truth?
The left and neocons and GOPe chorus attack all dissent
Look at this forum
Every leftist org in media is trumpeted all day as news source and legit
Same folks who brought all the bullshit here since the damn blue dress
It’s disgusting
All lies....nearly all
I will give a pass to those here who honestly think we’re still fighting the soviets
I don’t agree with them but there it is anyhow
Problem with leftists and neocons is not so much Pooties aggression as he’s the anti globalist culture war anti christ to them
They view him as they did Trump
He’s a bad actor no question but it’s an interslavic quarrel
Not a threat to us
No more than Serbia was
And there we bombed Christians to help Muslims for 75 days I might add
Belgrade primarily
Same Muslims some of whom fought against us in Iraq and Afghanistan
Our foreign policy is whacko
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