Kamala Harris’ campaign has accused Tesla CEO Elon Musk of spreading “manipulated lies” after he shared a fake video of the vice president on his X account.
Musk reposted a video on Friday evening that had been doctored to show Harris saying, “I was selected because I’m the ultimate diversity hire,” along with other controversial statements. The video has garnered 128 million views on Musk’s account. He captioned it with “This is awesome” and a laughing emoji. Musk owns X, which he rebranded from Twitter last year.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar criticized Musk for violating platform guidelines on sharing manipulated media. Users are not allowed to share media that may mislead or harm others, although satire is permitted as long as it doesn’t create confusion about its authenticity.
Harris’ campaign responded by stating, “The American people want the real freedom, opportunity, and security that Vice President Harris is providing, not the false, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”
The original video was posted by the @MrReaganUSA account, associated with conservative YouTuber Chris Coles, who claimed it was a parody.
However, Musk, a supporter of Donald Trump, did not clarify that the video was satire.
California Governor Gavin Newsom stated that the manipulated video of Harris should be illegal and indicated plans to sign a bill banning such deceptive media, likely referring to a proposed ban on election deepfakes in California.
Musk defended his actions, stating that parody is legal in the USA, and shared the original @MrReaganUSA video.
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An expert on deepfakes commented on the video, highlighting the use of generative AI technology to create convincing fake audio and visuals.
Source: www.theguardian.com
