How to Detect a Deepfake | Election Edition

Have you ever seen a video of President Biden and Former President Trump debating to the tune of DJ Shadow’s Nobody Speak? What about this video of a young President Trump talking about money laundering in an episode of Better Call Saul? It sounds impossible and quite silly, but these videos are completely real. They are what we refer to in the tech world as Deepfakes. 

Deepfakes, or digitally altered videos or audio that replace one person’s likeness onto another’s, are increasingly used by bad actors to create disinformation. Now, while these videos of Trump and Biden are clearly fake, there are some that are less easily discernible. In fact, there was an instance of a deepfake of Biden's voice robocalling voters across New Hampshire urging them to write in Biden’s name to the ballot during the Democratic Primary instead of voting for him. Scary, right? In an election year particularly, it is important to know how to identify a deepfake from a real video, to make sure you’re not getting duped when you’re digesting content. 

It’s tricky to distinguish between content that’s real and that which was created to trick you. But, here are a few tips to keep in mind when you think you’ve come across a deepfake: 

1. Check to see if there are videos out there that are similar to the one you are watching, 
2. Does the video make sense in the context of what you know about the person? Are they doing something completely out of character? 
3. Triple check the source and maybe connect some of the dots, is the video coming from a reputable website or account? 
4. Look to see if there are any strange movements. Do the mouth and audio line up? Is the person blinking normally? 
5. Look for inconsistencies in the lighting and shadows. Sometimes a deepfake face can look extremely well lit even though the setting around them is quite dark. 
6. If it’s an image, do a reverse image search to see if similar photos come up

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