On Wednesday, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, stated that it has removed a deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy giving a message in which he encourages Ukrainians to put down their weapons.
According to Sky News on Wednesday, the deepfake was the first to be broadcast after a breach on a Ukrainian news website called TV24. The video shows an altered Zelenskyy standing in front of a presidential podium with the Ukrainian coat of arms as a backdrop, declaring that Ukraine has “decided to return Donbas” to Russia and that his nation has lost the war.
After it was discovered that Zelenskyy’s head is comically bigger in the video than in real life and is more pixelated than his surrounding body, the video was classified as a deepfake. It was also pointed out that the false voice was significantly deeper than his true voice.
Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta’s head of security policy, announced the video’s removal from the company’s platforms in a Twitter thread. He stated, “
Earlier today, our teams identified and removed a deepfake video claiming to show President Zelensky issuing a statement he never did. It appeared on a reportedly compromised website and then started showing across the internet.
The Ukrainian government released a statement earlier this month asking soldiers and citizens to halt operations if they come across recordings of Zelenskyy on the internet, especially if he declares a surrender to the Russian assault.
Furthermore, the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications issued an official statement claiming that the Russian government will most likely deploy deepfakes to persuade Ukrainians to submit.
However, once the deepfake went viral, Zelenskyy responded with a video on his own Instagram account debunking the film.
As for the latest childish provocation with advice to lay down arms, I only advise that the troops of the Russian Federation lay down their arms and return home. We are at home and defending Ukraine.