Elon Musk spreads doctored Kamala Harris campaign video on X
Despite owning the platform, it seems Musk is willfully disregarding that the video violates X's terms of service, which prohibit "synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm."
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Elon Musk spreads doctored Kamala Harris campaign video on X
US Elections
Story by Chance Townsend
• 2h • 2 min read
Topics mentioned in this article
US Elections
Amid a surge of political misinformation across the internet, X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk has taken to his own platform to share a manipulated video of Kamala Harris' presidential campaign video. The Tesla founder and billionaire reposted the video Friday afternoon featuring an AI voice of Vice President Harris calling herself the "ultimate diversity hire."
The video, a "parody" created by right-wing YouTuber Mr. Reagan, is a re-edited version of Harris' "We Choose Freedom" campaign video. In this new version, the sitting VP is heard calling President Joe Biden "senile" and a "deep state puppet." On top of the DEI hire line, the video also posits that Harris believes she's above criticism because she's a woman and a person of color.
Mr. Reagan notes in his post that the video is a "parody," however when Musk reposted it, the CEO did not give such a disclaimer. At the time of this writing, the video has been seen over 166 million times, with Musk stating in his post, "This is amazing ?."
Despite owning the platform, it seems Musk is willfully disregarding that the video violates X's terms of service, which prohibit "synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm."
Ever since President Biden declared he would step down ahead of the 2024 presidential election, deepfakes of Kamala Harris have exploded in virality on Tiktok and X. As the November election inches to us day by day, political deepfakes have become a bigger issue than ever before. Despite the concern, legal experts say policymakers still aren't ready to grapple with exploitative AI. And while Tiktok says they're combatting these videos, X has made no such moves.
Despite new reports showing a 53 percent decline in revenue since last year, it seems Musk is content with how X is being moderated. The X CEO is committed to keeping it a "free speech platform" despite political misinformation and conspiracy theories being part of the reason revenue is down in the first place.
Elon Musk spreads doctored Kamala Harris campaign video on X © Provided by Mashable
Related video: Elon Musk's daughter speaks out against the controversial Tesla CEO (CNBC)
US Elections
Story by Chance Townsend
• 2h • 2 min read
Topics mentioned in this article
US Elections
Amid a surge of political misinformation across the internet, X (formerly Twitter) CEO Elon Musk has taken to his own platform to share a manipulated video of Kamala Harris' presidential campaign video. The Tesla founder and billionaire reposted the video Friday afternoon featuring an AI voice of Vice President Harris calling herself the "ultimate diversity hire."
The video, a "parody" created by right-wing YouTuber Mr. Reagan, is a re-edited version of Harris' "We Choose Freedom" campaign video. In this new version, the sitting VP is heard calling President Joe Biden "senile" and a "deep state puppet." On top of the DEI hire line, the video also posits that Harris believes she's above criticism because she's a woman and a person of color.
Mr. Reagan notes in his post that the video is a "parody," however when Musk reposted it, the CEO did not give such a disclaimer. At the time of this writing, the video has been seen over 166 million times, with Musk stating in his post, "This is amazing ?."
Despite owning the platform, it seems Musk is willfully disregarding that the video violates X's terms of service, which prohibit "synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm."
Ever since President Biden declared he would step down ahead of the 2024 presidential election, deepfakes of Kamala Harris have exploded in virality on Tiktok and X. As the November election inches to us day by day, political deepfakes have become a bigger issue than ever before. Despite the concern, legal experts say policymakers still aren't ready to grapple with exploitative AI. And while Tiktok says they're combatting these videos, X has made no such moves.
Despite new reports showing a 53 percent decline in revenue since last year, it seems Musk is content with how X is being moderated. The X CEO is committed to keeping it a "free speech platform" despite political misinformation and conspiracy theories being part of the reason revenue is down in the first place.
Elon Musk spreads doctored Kamala Harris campaign video on X © Provided by Mashable
Related video: Elon Musk's daughter speaks out against the controversial Tesla CEO (CNBC)
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Musk is almost as horrible a human being as Trump is, but even all his money cant buy him that recognition.
Musk is one of the strangest "famous people" around.
They’re kind of made for each other - each just like the other.
Elon “”fake news” Musk leads the way again
That's a funny video. Favorably competes with the production quality of Saturday Night Live. And, no, Musk's video is not fake for the simple reason that there's no attempt to convince people it's real. Have pity on those who do believe Kamala Harris actually narrated the video.
So, you attack videos sourced from both sides of the political aisle as "fake", and defend actual fake videos?
How can it be a fake video if there isn't any attempt convince people its a real video? The video can be a joke, a parody, a satire, or a cheap political stunt. But the video does not, at any time, try to convince anyone it's a real campaign advertisement from the Harris campaign.
It's not a video of a speech. It's not a video of a campaign event. Seems pretty obvious that the video was assembled by editing unrelated video clips together. If this is a fake video then the Harris campaign, itself, is disseminating fake videos. By that criteria, every news report that shows video clips and does a voice over is a fake video.
It is not someone imitating Harris, it is a doctoring of her own voice.
It is a "fake" by any reasonable definition.
There are people who will hear Harris voice and believe they are her words. Dont overestimate the intelligence of the American people.
Does Musk have any duty to not be an asshole on his own platform ?
SNL actors mimic voices. Musk's video is comparable to an SNL skit. So, if SNL skits are characterizes as fake then Musk's video meets the criteria of fake. They both are under the genre of infotainment and politicotainment.
What's ironic is that claiming Musk's video is fake requires the same sort of word salad that is portrayed in the video. Doesn't that mean the outrage is as fake as the video?
That is the point: He is not only supporting a conservative pac on Donald's behalf. . . but, additionally now collaborating (heading) his own influence 'campaign' physically. He clearly does not give a damn that liberals buy his cars (or not).
Why should he care what the ideology of those that choose to purchase the products he offers are inclined to?
New Electric Vehicles Create Competition for Musk's Tesla | TIME
Tesla Is No Longer Alone in the Electric Vehicle Race
For years, one carmaker has stood out as the leader for electric vehicles: Tesla. But the company now faces a growing slate of deep-pocketed competitors, including General Motors, Ford, and Mercedes-Benz, looking to disrupt its market dominance.
More than a dozen new electric vehicles are set to hit the market over the next year as carmakers make the shift to greener vehicles. That could spell trouble, auto analysts say, for a company that was once the only American electric carmaker.
“Tesla has been the dominant EV player for so long but we’re seeing a lot more competition coming in, not only with luxury EVs but also mainstream vehicles that come in different body types and price points,” says Kevin Roberts, director of industry insights and analytics at CarGurus.
Tesla’s electric vehicle market share is likely to decline from about 70% in 2021 to the “low teens” by 2025 as a result of the onslaught of EVs coming from other manufacturers, predicts John Murphy, the managing director and lead auto analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
What does that have to do with my question?...
That's rather the issue, isn't it? I mean, that's the core of what is really being talked about here, right? That's what is so ironic or, perhaps, hypocritical (or both) about the article, since it is closer to fake news than the vid being discussed. I don't believe for a second that anyone in here thinks the vid falls in the category of fake news. I think everyone here recognizes it for the satire that it is. Yet, I've seen more than one article attempting the same thing this one does. So, what is the purpose of the article and who is it aimed at?
Generally speaking, I think there's three kinds of people, or views if you prefer, concerning this issue. One is the people you talk about in the quote. Those who are not intelligent enough to understand this vid is satire and believe this was a genuine attempt at fake news intended to sway people into thinking Harris actually said those things.
The other two categories know it's satire but have different reactions to it for different reasons. One apparently sees it as an opportunity to do what the article is attempting. Convince or confirm the mistaken impression of the unintelligent that this is an actual, genuine example of fake news rather than satire. The other approves of it because they see it as confirming what they think is true about a thing.
In other words, "Don't overestimate the intelligence of the American people" actually applies to how people react to the seeded article as well. Some people will actually believe that the article is a genuine attempt to expose fake news rather than propaganda trying to spin something into something it obviously (to the intelligent) that it is not.
The only difference is that the article isn't an attempt at satire.
So is, "Thou shalt not bear false witness", merely a suggestion? Or, Commandment?
Good point. The more time goes by, the less I am a fan of satire or political cartoons. Such things tend to oversimplify real issues or, worse, appeal to people's biases in such a way that they are less likely to be open to factors that don't confirm those biases. In other words, they tend to cause less thinking more than anything else.
But, it should be pointed out, you are simply continuing what the seeded article is attempting to do. Treat the referenced vid as something that was presented as fake news. That is, something put out as being true. It was satire and nothing else, so doesn't fall under the statute of "false witness" except, perhaps, in the mind of the unintelligent.
"X" Help Center
Synthetic and manipulated media policy
Overview
April 2023
You may not share synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm (“misleading media”). In addition, we may label posts containing misleading media to help people understand their authenticity and to provide additional context. *
What is in violation of this policy
In order for content with misleading media (including images, videos, audios, gifs, and URLs hosting relevant content) to be labeled or removed under this policy, it must:
We use the following criteria as we consider posts and media for labeling or removal under this policy as part of our ongoing work to enforce our rules and ensure healthy and safe conversations on X:
1. Is the content significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated?
In order for content to be labeled or removed under this policy, we must have reason to believe that media are significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated. Synthetic and manipulated media take many different forms and people can employ a wide range of technologies to produce these media. Some of the factors we consider include:
We will not take action to label or remove media that have been edited in ways that do not fundamentally alter their meaning, such as retouched photos or color-corrected videos.
In order to determine if media have been significantly and deceptively altered or fabricated, we may use our own technology or receive reports through partnerships with third parties. In situations where we are unable to reliably determine if media have been altered or fabricated, we may not take action to label or remove them.
2. Is the content shared in a deceptive manner or with false context?
We also consider whether the context in which media are shared could result in confusion or suggests a deliberate intent to deceive people about the nature or origin of the content, for example, by falsely claiming that it depicts reality. We assess the context provided alongside media to see whether it provides true and factual information. Some of the types of context we assess in order to make this determination include:
We will not take action to label or remove media that have been shared with commentary or opinions that do not advance or present a misleading claim on the context of the media such as those listed above.
In order to determine if media have been shared in a deceptive manner or with false context, we may use our own technology or receive reports through partnerships with third parties. In situations where we are unable to reliably determine if media have been shared with false context, we will not label or remove the content.
What is not a violation of this policy
We seek to protect public conversation surrounding various issues. Media often accompany these conversations and encourage further discourse. In the absence of other policy violations, the following are generally not in violation of this policy:
More on the link: Our synthetic and manipulated media policy | X Help
* Emphases CB.
Thanks, CB. I had not previously examined X's policy. After examining your post, I must conclude that your point is that X intended to ban satire. Is this the point of your post? I mean, I know you don't answer inconvenient questions but I thought I would ask anyway.
Crazy that people are admitting they believed that in public.
People watch (or don't watch) SNL for various reasons. And many of them are quite vocal about their views on social media.
But when they say negative things..I don't think I've ever heard them bash "the production quality".
Just my two cents here-- but judging political candidates by emotion rather than reason can often lead to disastrous results.
Yeah, but we're stronger together.
This is the 'all-out' country MAGAs want. If they can't win fair and square just fall back on thievery. They know what they are doing. . . it is open might put up against rule of law. They are asking, demanding even, people to CHOOSE. This is why Musk bought Twitter to support the freedoms he prefers and not wholly freedom. It is the freedom to mock and hope their are fools who will enjoy the 'escapade' enough to believe them or at the least, laugh along with his worldview enough to lend 'a hand' in the suppressions to come.
Instructive to see what outrages the online left:
Private person endorsing an obvious parody video.
What doesn't outrage the online the left:
The actual Harris campaign falsely tweeting that Vance endorsed Project 2025 in an interview excerpt.
I've been viewing social media for many decades. (I started in the early days of AOL chatrooms).
And over time I've found that the two most negative things that many people tend to do are:
1. Over-generalizations
2. Making Assumptions
One common example being when people say things like:
The left is...
or The right is...
A difficult concept for many users: "Everyone on both the 'Left' and on the "Right" are not exactly the same--- nor do they all have the same opinions.
To cite but one example of this type of "fuzzy thinking"-- that's we have political primary elections!
So a comedy video is now the source of outrage? has anybody seen Cobert lately, he so eaten up with TDS his cheese hasn't just slipped off the cracker, it isn't even in the same room as his cracker anymore.
What really angers the left isn't that Musk posted this video, it's the fact they can't get the censors to remove it while leaving anything posted about trump online anymore, they have lost their largest propaganda network and it really pisses them off. Maybe they can try truth social?
That's an assumption on your part.
How often do you actually watch Colbert?
Whenever i want to remind myself what a TDS eaten up fool looks like, He is one of the liars that were pushing the Joe's just old line of bullshit. if he ever had any credibility, it gone now.
A bit of an over-generalization on your part.
(Just curious-- what is the source of your "information"?
Personal observation from the vitriol we see here, Fascist, Maga, end of democracy, scoundrel etc. the comments don't even rise to the level of caricature of an actual discussion.
It seem some are tripping over each other to try andcome up with a new word to describe trump. Funny stuff
i gotta few
Saving them for when people get tired of the ones out there now?
Nope-- wrong answer!
[✘]
Since all the conservatives here seem to see no problem with fake videos, here's a good one for you.
Well, that video falls under the category of a slacker making a bad video. I've seen better (and more believable) pop-up ads for pecker-uppers than that video.
What I want to know is who would be stupid enough to actually believe that video shows something that happened?
The seeded content story has been removed from the link above.