Elon Musk Violates Policy X By Uploading Deepfake Kamala Harris

Elon Musk uploaded Kamala Harris' deepfake video (photo: X @elonmusk)

JAKARTA Elon Musk uploaded a deepfake video from US Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday, 27 July. Despite only re-sharing other user posts, this video has violated platform policies. The video Musk shared was the latest campaign video from Harris, but was changed using deepfakes. The video includes a voice similar to Harris and says various things that brought down the US presidential candidate. One of the statements submitted by Harris was, "(I) have been under the supervision of the best inner state doll for four years, (with) an extraordinary mentor, Joe Biden." This statement is of course made using manipulation technology. The first account that uploaded the video, as well as the video maker, included the caption, "Parodi ads for Kamala Harris's campaign." However, Musk's re-upload does not include the word parody. Musk's upload only said that the video was extraordinary with the addition of a laughing emoji. This upload received 933 thousand signatures like various comments. Not a few criticized Musk's actions because the video violated X's rules.

As the owner of X, Musk should have known that the platform prohibits various uploads leading to disinformation. Policy X even asserts that manipulation posts that can deceive many people are not allowed on the platform. "Synthetic media, manipulated, or out of context that can deceive or confuse people and cause harm (not allowed on the X platform)," X wrote in his policy. This synthetic media content includes re-dubunged audio and changing meaning. Seeing Musk's post which does not explain that the video is deepfake-made, the owner of X has clearly violated its platform policy. However, the post still exists today and X does not provide any statement.