Three ways to spot a deepfake video
BY KERRY TOMLINSON, AMPERE NEWS
april 14, 2022
In times of war and world conflict, you need to be able to spot deepfakes --- computer-generated people --- before they manipulate you.
Here are three ways to check to see if a video you're watching is human or hoax.
Watch here:
TikTok Putin
Fake Putin is alive and well on TikTok, a social media platform based in video.
In one video on the account of @1facerussia, the Russian president sings, dances and celebrates a holiday: February 23, Defender of the Fatherland Day, and the eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The non-presidential antics quickly expose this Vladimir as a fake, along with the many videos circulating on social media.
But what happens when the fake looks real?
In times of war, a realistic fake has the potential to cause chaos, even death.
"I think this is really something we should be very concerned about," said Siwei Lyu, a deepfake researcher and professor at State University of New York, University at Buffalo.
Spotting Fakes
Lyu shows a video of Putin saying the war is over.
"There were negotiations with the Ukrainian side and they ended absolutely successfully for the Russian side," Putin appears to say. "We reached peace with Ukraine."
"This is a deepfake," Lyu explains, adding that he believes the video was made for entertainment rather than propaganda.
LEFT: deepfake of Russian president Vladimir Putin. RIGHT: real image of Putin from a video announcing a “special operation” in Ukraine on February 24. Left image: Siwei Lyu, right image: Reuters
Lyu and his team have created a deepfake-o-meter to help determine if a video is fake or not. It is not an easy tool for everyone of all technical skills to use. But you can become your own deepfake-o-meter on social media, with Lyu's help.
Try these three clues.
1. FACE
First, the face. Current deepfake technology may cause unusual movement in places like the jaw and mouth.
Lyu notes that the jaw in the fake Putin video is a little too flexible for a real person --- a common issue in 'synthetic' people.
"If you watch the whole video, you may notice that there is a little wobbling of the lower part of his face. That's suggesting synthesis," Lyu said. "There is a little unnatural motion. It's subtle, but you can observe it. If you pay attention, you probably can see it."
2. TEETH
Second, the teeth. The technology can have trouble creating individual teeth and may represent them as simply a white bar in the mouth.
"That's exactly what we're seeing here," he said as he played the deepfake Putin video.
If you compare the deepfake teeth with real Putin's teeth, you will note a difference.
"The video is not in its highest resolution but, generally speaking, gives you pretty good resolution of hair and skin and all the other facial parts," he explained. "In such a video, we should also see some clear teeth images showing up in the mouth when his mouth is open."
"This is the hardest part of the algorithm to synthesize… the individual teeth," he added.
LEFT: deepfake of Russian president Vladimir Putin showing undefined teeth. RIGHT: real image of Putin showing defined teeth. Left image: Siwei Lyu, right image: Reuters
2. Motion and emotion
Finally, check the motion and emotion of the speaker. Do they match what the person is supposed to be saying?
Here, false Putin makes a big announcement --- that they have made peace with Ukraine --- but gives a strange, oddly-placed shrug and makes an odd facial expression at the end of the sentence. It's not natural for this kind of speech.
Lyu said people should watch out for these kinds of videos of social media.
"As they become easier to make, less expensive to make, we're going to see a growing trend of more deepfakes, better quality, and harder to detect," he said.
Deepfakes in War
Early on in the war, Ukraine warned that Russia could make a deepfake president Volodymyr Zelenskyy giving in to Russia to try to cause chaos and demoralize the country.
On March 16, it came to pass. Someone hacked a Ukraine television station and broadcast a fake video in which a manipulated version of Zelenskyy says Ukrainian soldiers should lay down their arms.
But check fake Zelenskyy's eyes. They blink too fast for a real human --- a telltale sign of an artificial creation.
Compare with a real video of Zelenskyy, and you will see that the real man not only blinks more slowly but moves his face and body much more than the fake.
The real Zelenskyy responded with a video saying Ukraine will not give up.
LEFT: deepfake of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. RIGHT: real image of Zelenskyy from a video on March 26. Left image: Mikael Thalen, right image: Office of the President of Ukraine
Another Layer
But Deepfakes, even if you know they are fake, may still have the power to influence you.
In South Korea, presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol publicly used a deepfake version of himself to speak like a young, hip voter.
Artificial Yoon uses snark and sass to say things the real candidate would not necessarily come up with on the spot.
For example, a voter asked if the South Korea's former president, who is leaving office, and Yoon's opponent were drowning, which one would Yoon save?
"I'd wish them both good luck," artificial Yoon quips.
"We try to handle some of the questions which the candidate does not answer. In addressing some of those questions, we sometimes encounter contents that are not necessarily politically correct. But if you try too hard not to cross the line, there are relatively less feedbacks from the public," Baik Kyeong-Hoon, the director of the artificial Yoon team, said to news organization WION.
He won the election.
"Fun" Putin
On TikTok, 1faceRussia's Putin deepfakes show him as silly, comical, even hip, not a leader bombing civilians in another country and jailing people who protest.
It may be too soon to tell if the TikTok videos with millions of views influence support for Putin, or if the synthetic, sassy version of candidate Yoon propelled him into office.
But we can slow down and check for fakery before we like or promote a post on social media to avoid falling into the trap —- just as the deepfakers intended.
"If I don't take a second look," Lyu said, "I could just retweet it and so I become part of the problem. And that's something users should be very careful about."
LEFT: deepfake image of the author, Kerry Tomlinson, as the Marvel superhero Black Widow. RIGHT: the real Black Widow actress, played by Scarlett Johansson. Left image: ReFace, right image: Marvel Studies/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
