The technology campaigners said Elon Musk violated the platform’s own policies by sharing deepfake video.
Washington:
Billionaire
Musk reposted a doctored Harris campaign video in which a voiceover impersonating her calls President Joe Biden senile and declares that she “knows nothing about running the country,” adding that as a woman and as a person of color, she is the “ultimate diversity hire” .
The video was originally posted by an X account linked to conservative podcaster Chris Kohls and labeled a “parody.”
But Musk’s repost on Friday made no such revelation, saying only, “This is awesome,” along with a laughing emoji.
Musk’s repost has been viewed more than 130 million times and comes amid growing alarm over AI-enabled political disinformation ahead of November’s US presidential election.
“We believe the American people want the real freedom, opportunity and security that Vice President Harris provides; not the false, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump,” Harris’ presidential campaign said in a statement.
With nearly 192 million followers, Musk is a highly influential voice on the platform, formerly known as Twitter, which he bought in 2022 in a $44 billion deal.
Earlier this month, Musk endorsed Trump in a post on X, shortly after the Republican narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California, posted on X that the doctored Harris video “should be illegal” and that he would soon sign a bill banning such media.
A defiant Musk responded to his post, saying “parody is legal in America” as he posted the original video underneath.
Musk’s repost appeared to violate X’s policy, which prohibits sharing “synthetic, manipulated, or decontextualized media that may mislead or confuse people and cause harm.”
X did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.
“He ignored the rules of the road (because) he bought the road,” Nora Benavidez, a senior adviser at the watchdog Free Press, wrote about X, referring to Musk’s apparent violation of the site’s policies.
Disinformation researchers fear widespread misuse of AI technology in a key election year, thanks to the proliferation of online tools that are cheap and easy to use while lacking sufficient guardrails.
AI-generated content — particularly audio, which experts say can be difficult to identify — sparked national alarm in January when a fake robocall posing as Biden urged New Hampshire residents not to vote during the state’s primaries.
“Platforms play an outsized role in election cycles,” Benavidez wrote. “They have to do better.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)