The threat of deepfakes

20th January, 2021 Security and Defence

Context: We need AI-backed technological tools to detect the unreal

Story so far: The protesters who created chaos in Capitol Hill on January 6 believe that the 2020 U.S. election was stolen by the Democrats.

This is largely due to misinformation and disinformation of which deepfakes are a part.
- Deepfakes — synthetic media, meaning media (including images, audio and video) that are either manipulated or wholly generated by Artificial Intelligence — even have the power to threaten the electoral outcome of the world’s oldest democracy.

Fabricating content

The cyberworld has been facing the challenge of deepfakes for a while now.
AI is used for fabricating audios, videos and texts to show real people saying and doing things they never did, or creating new images and videos.
These are done so convincingly that it is hard to detect what is fake and what is real.
Detection can often be done only by AI-generated tools.
Deepfakes can target anyone, anywhere. They are used to tarnish reputations, create mistrust, question facts, and spread propaganda.
According to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, a law which protects freedom of expression and innovation on the Internet, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
This means that the companies are not responsible for the posts on their platforms.

India’s condition

India also faces the same problem.
So far, it has not enacted any specific legislation to deal with deepfakes, though there are some provisions in the Indian Penal Code that criminalise certain forms of online/social media content
The Information Technology Act, 2000 covers certain cybercrimes.
But this law and the Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules, 2018 are inadequate to deal with content manipulation on digital platforms.
In 2018, the government proposed rules to curtail the misuse of social networks.
Social media companies voluntarily agreed to take action to prevent violations during the 2019 general election.
The Election Commission issued instructions on social media use during election campaigns.
But reports show that social media platforms like WhatsApp were used as “vehicles for misinformation and propaganda” by major political parties during the election.

New tools

This is worrying as existing laws are clearly inadequate to safeguard individuals and entities against deepfakes and only AI-generated tools can be effective in detection.
As innovation in deepfakes gets better, AI-based automated tools must be invented accordingly.
Blockchains are robust against many security threats and can be used to digitally sign and affirm the validity of a video or document.
Educating media users about the capabilities of AI algorithms could help.

How to prevent deepfake technology from adversely affecting masses?

In July 2020, the University of Washington and Microsoft convened a workshop with experts to discuss how to prevent deepfake technology from adversely affecting us.
The workshop identified six themes:

a) deepfakes must be contextualised within the broader framework of malicious manipulated media, computational propaganda and disinformation campaigns;
b) deepfakes cause multidimensional issues which require a collaborative, multi-stakeholder response that require experts in every sector to find solutions;
c) detecting deepfakes is hard;
d) journalists need tools to scrutinise images, video and audio recordings for which they need training and resources;
e) policymakers must understand how deepfakes can threaten polity, society, economy, culture, individuals and communities; and
f) the idea that the mere existence of deepfakes causes enough distrust that any true evidence can be dismissed as fake is a major concern that needs to be addressed.

Conclusion:

In today’s world, disinformation comes in varied forms, so no single technology can resolve the problem.
As deepfakes evolve, AI-backed technological tools to detect and prevent them must also evolve.

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