Deepfake video of US lawmaker soliciting votes for Taiwan's presidential candidate spread online
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on January 9, 2024 at 08:05
- 4 min read
- By AFP Hong Kong
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"US social media platforms released a video in support of #Lai-Hsiao. Finally, picking a side in the election, it is the best New Year's gift for the DPP! Support the #DPP!" reads the caption in traditional Chinese of a TikTok video uploaded on December 29, 2023.
Text overlaid on the video reads: "December 29 US social media video: Interview with Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the United States House Committee on Armed Services, publicly campaigning for the DPP."
Wittman appears to say in the video: "Hsiao promoted US-Taiwan relations, and she has rich diplomatic experience and outstanding leadership skills. If Lai and Hsiao became president, the United States would accelerate all arms sales to Taiwan, send US military personnel with combat experience to assist Taiwan's training, and invite Taiwan's army to train in the United States, to strengthen self-defence capabilities."
Lai Ching-te -- who is also Taiwan's vice president -- will lead the ruling DPP to run in the island's presidential election on January 13, with Taiwan's former representative to the United States -- Hsiao Bi-khim -- as his running mate.
The lead-up to the poll is being closely watched -- including by policymakers in Beijing and Washington -- as it could determine the future of Taiwan's relations with an increasingly bellicose China.
While the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it is one of the self-ruling island's key allies and provides weapons and aid to boost its defences.
Wittman has led a delegation that visited Taiwan from August 31 to September 2, 2023, as vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees funding for the US military, AFP reported.
He met with Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen there and said any unprovoked attack on Taiwan would result in a "resolute reaction" from Washington.
Wittman also promised to help resolve the delivery backlog of weapons purchased by Taiwan.
US President Joe Biden's administration approved direct military aid to Taiwan for the first time under a financing programme for foreign governments in August 2023.
However, the video is not genuine footage of the congressman making the remarks.
Deepfake video
A combination of reverse image and keyword search on Google found a video published by US television station WUSA on its website and verified YouTube channel on March 2, 2022 (archived links here and here).
"U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia (R) talks about the crisis in Ukraine ahead of President Biden's State of the Union. He also talks economy and COVID recovery."
He did not mention anything about the election in Taiwan during the interview.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the doctored TikTok video (left) and the original footage uploaded by WUSA on YouTube (right):
AFP analysed the video and found visual clues that suggested it was generated with an artificial intelligence (AI) tool. The movement of Wittman's mouth looks unnatural when he speaks in the video circulating on social media and does not match that in the original video.
Beyond changing the visual elements of a video, artificial intelligence tools can also recreate vocals.
"With a small audio sample, an AI voice clone can be used to leave voicemails and voice texts. It can even be used as a live voice changer on phone calls," Wasim Khaled, chief executive of Blackbird.AI, previously told AFP (archived link).
As of January 8, 2024, AFP found no credible reports of Wittman publicly canvassing for the ruling party of Taiwan.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the 2024 Taiwanese presidential elections here.
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