TikTokers vs Deepfakes: The Misinformation Battle Never Settles

The social media platform, TikTok, is now hosted to a steady stream of deep fake videos

One of the world's most popular social media platforms, TikTok, is now hosted to a steady stream of deepfake videos. Deep fake is a type of artificial intelligence used to create convincing images, audio, and video hoaxes. Deepfake videos use AI tools to convincingly replace a person's face or voice with somebody else's, allowing the synthesized media to be used playfully or to spread misinformation maliciously.

Deepfakes are videos in which a subject's face or body has been digitally altered to make them look like someone, usually a famous person. Deepfake videos are often used for harmless purposes like memes, social media filters, or face-swap apps. But deepfakes can also be used maliciously to spread misinformation, create fake news, or launch revenge videos.  Recently, a deceptively convincing viral video on TikTok featuring what looked like actor Tom Cruise. Those videos may have seemed real, but they were actually made with deepfake technology.

TikTok is now hosting to a steady stream of deepfake videos:

From deeptomcriuse TikTok account, which has posted dozens of deepfake videos impersonating Tom Cruise and attracted some 3.6 million followers because of the quality of its deepfake Cruise videos. Now, with the rise in popularity of TikTok, deepfakes are in a perfect position to spread and potentially trick people. Experts think the fake Cruise videos are just the tip of the iceberg. Deepfake technology can create convincing but entirely fictional photos from scratch.

The company's goal is to focus on trying to develop our product in a way that avoids adding to the harmful deepfakes already being created by others. Deepfakes are being used as proof for other fake news and disinformation. Although deepfakes are often used creatively or for fun, they're increasingly being deployed in disinformation campaigns, for identity fraud, and to discredit public figures and celebrities. And whether that's a deepfake sex video, a fake porn video targeting political enemies, or a well-timed deepfake, may be used to cause harm to an IPO.

To detect a deepfake: There are notable, telltale characteristics that can help you spot deep fakes on your own and with some artificial intelligence help.  Eye movements that do not look natural like as an absence of blinking are huge red flags. It's also challenging to replicate a real person's eye movements. When something doesn't look right about a face, it could signal facial morphing. This occurs when one image has been stitched over another.

Another sign is if a person's body shape doesn't look natural, or there is awkward or inconsistent positioning of head and body. This may be one of the easier inconsistencies to spot because deepfake technology usually focuses on facial features rather than the whole body. Abnormal skin tone, discoloration, weird lighting, and misplaced shadows are all signs that what you're seeing is likely fake. Hair that doesn't look real.

Deepfakes are exploding on TikTok, with apps advertising ways to change their videos to include the faces of celebrities. Some TikTok users are turning themselves into celebrities and having conversations with them that appear to be real. Meanwhile, entire accounts are dedicated to deep fakes.