Facebook has removed a deepfake of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Meta-owned social media platform noticed that a viral deepfake - a term used to describe a convincing AI graphic often set up as part of a hoax - of the Ukrainian president on Wednesday (16.03.2022) and took swift steps to remove it.
In a tweet, head of security policy at Meta, Nathaniel Gleicher said: "We've quickly reviewed and removed this video for violating our policy against misleading manipulated media, and notified our peers at other platforms,"
The "deepfake" - a term which combines "deep learning"and fake" -was a video which reportedly depicted the 44-year-old politician speaking in Ukranian, urging natives to put down their weapons amid the ongoing invasion launched by Russian president Vladimir Putin back at the end of February.
It comes just weeks after the Ukrainian Land Army took to their official Facebook page to warn users that something of this ilk was likely to happen and urged viewers not to fall for it as they explained the premise of deepfake technology.
Their post read: "Imagine seeing Vladimir Zelensky on TV making a surrender statement. You see it, you hear it - so it’s true. But this is not the truth! This is deepfake technology. This will not be a real video, but created through machine learning algorithms.Videos made through such technologies are almost impossible to distinguish from the real ones.
Be aware - this is a fake! His goal is to disorient, sow panic, disbelieve citizens and incite our troops to retreat.
Rest assured - Ukraine will not capitulate!"
