Facebook to remove deepfake videos in run-up to 2020 U.S. election

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) said it will remove deepfakes and other manipulated videos from its platform if they have been edited, but not content that is parody or satire, in a move aimed at curbing misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

The social media giant would also remove misleading media if it was a result of technologies like AI that “merges, replaces or superimposes content on to a video, making it appear to be authentic”, it said in a blogpost here dated Jan.6.

Last year, Facebook refused to remove a heavily edited video that attempted to make U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seem incoherent by slurring her speech and making it appear like she was repeatedly stumbling over her words.

“This policy does not extend to content that is parody or satire, or video that has been edited solely to omit or change the order of words,” Facebook said.

The company did not respond immediately to questions about how it would determine what was parody or whether it would remove the Pelosi video under the new policy.

Facebook has been criticized over its content policies by politicians from across the spectrum. Democrats have blasted the company for refusing to fact-check political advertisements, while Republicans have accused it of discriminating against conservative views, a charge that it has denied.

In the run-up to the U.S. presidential election in November 2020, social platforms have been under pressure to tackle the threat of deepfakes, which use artificial intelligence to create hyper-realistic videos where a person appears to say or do something they did not.