{"id":107688,"date":"2020-10-13T21:01:06","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T04:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"\/blogs\/?p=107688"},"modified":"2025-08-29T01:01:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T08:01:16","slug":"election-2020-how-to-spot-phony-deepfake-videos-this-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcafee.com\/blogs\/internet-security\/election-2020-how-to-spot-phony-deepfake-videos-this-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Election 2020 \u2013 How to Spot Phony Deepfake Videos this Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Election 2020 \u2013 How to Spot Phony Deepfake Videos this Election<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Maybe you\u2019ve seen videos where Robert Downey Jr. and other cast members of The Avengers <\/em>follow the yellow brick road after they swap faces with the cast of 1939\u2019s The Wizard of Oz<\/em><\/a>. Or how about any of the umpteen videos where the face of actor Nicolas Cage is swapped with, well, everybody, from the cast of Friends <\/em>to Forrest Gump. They\u2019re funny, uncanny, and sometimes a little too real. <\/em>Welcome to deepfakes, a technology that can be entertaining, yet one that has election year implications\u2014now and for years to come.<\/p>\n

What are deepfakes?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Deepfakes are phoney video or audio recordings that look and sound real, so much so that the best of them can dupe people into thinking they\u2019re the real thing. They\u2019re not unlike those face-swapping apps your children or nieces and nephews may have on their phones, albeit more sophisticated. Less powerful versions of deepfaking software are used by the YouTube channels that create the videos I mentioned above. However, more sophisticated deepfake technologies have chilling repercussions when it comes to public figures, such as politicians.<\/p>\n

Imagine creating a video of a public figure where you literally put words into their mouth. That\u2019s what deepfakes effectively do. This can lead to threat tactics, intimidation, and personal image sabotage\u2014and in an election year, the spread of disinformation.<\/p>\n

Deepfakes sow the seeds of doubt<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Deepfakes can make you question if what you\u2019re seeing, and hearing, is actually real. In terms of an election year, they can introduce yet another layer of doubt into our discourse\u2014leading people to believe that a political figure has said something that they\u2019ve never said. And, conversely, giving political figures an \u201cout\u201d where they might decry a genuine audio or video clip as a deepfake, when in fact it is not.<\/p>\n

The technology and security industries have responded by rolling out their own efforts to detect and uncover deepfakes. Here at McAfee, we\u2019ve launched McAfee Deepfakes Lab, which provides traditional news and social media organizations advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) analysis of suspected deepfake videos intended to spread reputation-damaging lies about individuals and organizations during the 2020 U.S. election season and beyond.<\/p>\n

However, what can you do when you encounter, or think you encounter, a deepfake on the internet? Just like in my recent blog on election misinformation<\/a>, a few tips on media savvy point the way.<\/p>\n

How to spot deepfakes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While the technology continually improves, there are still typical telltale signs that a video you\u2019re watching is a deepfake. Creators of deepfakes count on you to overlook some fine details, as the technology today largely has difficulty capturing the subtle touches of their subjects. Take a look at:<\/p>\n