Context: Disinformation and hoaxes have evolved from mere annoyance to high stake warfare for creating social discord, increasing polarisation, and in some cases, influencing an election outcome.

Deepfakes

• These are a new tool to spread computational propaganda and disinformation at scale and with speed.
• Deepfakes are the digital media (video, audio, and images) manipulated using Artificial Intelligence. This synthetic media content is referred to as deepfakes.
• Deepfakes, hyper-realistic digital falsification, can inflict damage to individuals, institutions, businesses and democracy.
• They make it possible to fabricate media — swap faces, lip-syncing, and puppeteer — mostly without consent and bring threat to psychology, security, political stability, and business disruption.
• Nation-state actors with geopolitical aspirations, ideological believers, violent extremists, and economically motivated enterprises can manipulate media narratives using deepfakes, with easy and unprecedented reach and scale.

A cyber Frankenstein

• Synthetic media can create possibilities and opportunities for all people, regardless of who they are, where they are, and how they listen, speak, or communicate.
• It can give people a voice, purpose, and ability to make an impact at scale and with speed.
• But as with any new innovative technology, it can be weaponised to inflict harm.

Targeting women

• The very first use case of malicious use of a deepfake was seen in pornography, inflicting emotional, reputational, and in some cases, violence towards the individual.
• Pornographic deepfakes can threaten, intimidate, and inflict psychological harm and reduce women to sexual objects.
• Deepfake pornography exclusively targets women.
• Deepfakes can depict a person indulging in antisocial behaviours and saying vile things.
• These can have severe implications on their reputation, sabotaging their professional and personal life.
• Even if the victim could debunk the fake via an alibi or otherwise, it may come too late to remedy the initial harm.
• Malicious actors can take advantage of unwitting individuals to defraud them for financial gains using audio and video deepfakes.
• Deepfakes can be deployed to extract money, confidential information, or exact favours from individuals.
• Deepfakes can cause short- and long-term social harm and accelerate the already declining trust in news media.
• Such an erosion can contribute to a culture of factual relativism, fraying the increasingly strained civil society fabric.
• The distrust in social institutions is perpetuated by the democratising nature of information dissemination and social media platforms’ financial incentives.
• Falsity is profitable, and goes viral more than the truth on social platforms.
• Combined with distrust, the existing biases and political disagreement can help create echo chambers and filter bubbles, creating discord in society.
• Deepfake can be used to cause riots and, along with property damage, may also cause life and livelihood losses.
• A deepfake could act as a powerful tool by a nation-state to undermine public safety and create uncertainty and chaos in the target country.
• It can be used by insurgent groups and terrorist organisations, to represent their adversaries as making inflammatory speeches or engaging in provocative actions to stir up anti-state sentiments among people.

Undermining democracy

• A deepfake can also aid in altering the democratic discourse and undermine trust in institutions and impair diplomacy.
• False information about institutions, public policy, and politicians powered by a deepfake can be exploited to spin the story and manipulate belief.
• A deepfake of a political candidate can sabotage their image and reputation.
• A well-executed one, a few days before polling, of a political candidate spewing out racial epithets or indulging in an unethical act can damage their campaign.
• There may not be enough time to recover even after effective debunking. Voters can be confused and elections can be disrupted.
• A high-quality deepfake can inject compelling false information that can cast a shadow of illegitimacy over the voting process and election results.
• Deepfakes contribute to factual relativism and enable authoritarian leaders to thrive.
• For authoritarian regimes, it is a tool that can be used to justify oppression and disenfranchise citizens.
• Leaders can also use them to increase populism and consolidate power.
• Deepfakes can become a very effective tool to sow the seeds of polarisation, amplifying division in society, and suppressing dissent.
• Another concern is a liar’s dividend; an undesirable truth is dismissed as deepfake or fake news.
• Leaders may weaponise deepfakes and use fake news and an alternative-facts narrative to replace an actual piece of media and truth.

Major solutions

• To defend the truth and secure freedom of expression, we need a multi-stakeholder and multi-modal approach.
• Collaborative actions and collective techniques across legislative regulations, platform policies, technology intervention, and media literacy can provide effective and ethical countermeasures to mitigate the threat of malicious deepfakes.
• Media literacy for consumers and journalists is the most effective tool to combat disinformation and deepfakes.
• Media literacy efforts must be enhanced to cultivate a discerning public. Improving media literacy is a precursor to addressing the challenges presented by deepfakes.
• Meaningful regulations with a collaborative discussion with the technology industry, civil society, and policymakers can facilitate disincentivising the creation and distribution of malicious deepfakes.
• There is also need for easy-to-use and accessible technology solutions to detect deepfakes, authenticate media, and amplify authoritative sources.
• Deepfakes can create possibilities for all people irrespective of their limitations by augmenting their agency.
• However, as access to synthetic media technology increases, so does the risk of exploitation.
• Deepfakes can be used to damage reputations, fabricate evidence, defraud the public, and undermine trust in democratic institutions.

Counter the menace

• To counter the menace of deepfakes, there is need to take the responsibility
• To be a critical consumer of media on the Internet, think and pause before sharing on social media, and be part of the solution to this infodemic.
• It is crucial to enhance media literacy, meaningful regulations and platform policies, and amplify authoritative sources
• Access to commodity cloud computing, algorithms, and abundant data has created a perfect storm to democratise media creation and manipulation.

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/countering-deepfakes-the-most-serious-ai-threat/article32966578.ece?homepage=true

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