Misinformation and deep fakes are spreading rapidly with the rise of AI. This problem is becoming a major headache in the current US election season. While social media platforms are working hard to highlight and help users differentiate between real and machine-generated content, X CEO Elon Musk has been criticised for sharing a manipulated video of US Vice President Kamala Harris. Musk re-shared an AI-dubbed video of Harris from a parody account but did not clarify that it was AI-generated, thereby violating the strict policy of his own platform, X.

Last Friday, Musk re-posted a video on his X account that was altered using AI to falsely reproduce Harris’ statements in her own voice. The deep fake video falsely suggested that Harris made derogatory comments about US President Joe Biden and her own qualifications. The manipulated audio of Harris’ voice described Biden as old and referred to herself as the “ultimate diversity job” without any sufficient qualifications. However, this was clearly a deep fake video, as the original video is available online under the title “We Choose Freedom” and shows Harris making a message to the public without any derogatory comments.

The original video was edited and initially shared on X by the @MrReaganUSA account. The account labeled the video as a “parody” to prevent it from being flagged under X’s policies. However, Musk later shared the video, commenting, “This is amazing” with a laughing emoji, but forgetting to include the parody disclaimer.

As a result, Musk’s post raised questions about X’s policies on synthetic media. According to X’s guidelines, users cannot share “synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and cause harm (‘deceptive media’)”. The platform also emphasizes that AI-edited content must maintain authenticity and prevent misinformation. “We may label posts containing deceptive media to help people understand their authenticity and provide additional context.”

The platform allows parody and satire posts, but they must not create confusion about the authenticity of the original media. “Posts that share deceptive media are subject to removal under this policy if they are likely to cause serious harm,” X’s terms and policies state.

Musk responded to the criticism by linking to the original post of the digitally altered video, which included the parody label, saying, “I checked with Professor Sugon Dzanitz, a world-renowned authority on this, and he said parody is legal in the US.”

Despite X’s detailed policy, several influencers on the platform accused Musk of violating his platform’s policies. However, amid criticism, Musk again responded to his post and this time he shared the link to the original post where the deep fake video was shared with a parody label. Highlighting that the original video is a parody, Musk wrote, and added, “I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Sugon Dzanitz, and he said that parody is legal in the US.”