How to spot a deepfake

Imagine that you can dance like Bruno Mars or sing like Whitney Houston in just one day. The technology used to make anyone do or say things they have never done may seem complicated — but it is very accessible. All that is needed is some visual footage or a recording of a voice to start creating an alternative reality.

This kind of manipulated content that has been created with the help of AI technology is called synthetic content, or more widely known as a deepfake.

Deepfakes for media spoofing

In the past year, one phenomenon that has been recurring is media spoofing, i.e. when someone creates a fake account of a media outlet, using their name in order to fool people and maybe even spread disinformation. In this case they copy the profile photo and use similar usernames to the original to make their fake accounts look as realistic as possible.

Sometimes the logo and font of a media outlet are used to create fake content.

Due to the ever-improving quality of deepfakes, tips such as "watch out for unusual mouth movements" or "the video quality is bad" are not always relevant.

We advise checking such content against several sources. One additional step could be to include a deepfake detector in your research. You could check a suspicious video by using a detection software like the one included in the InVID verification plugin, which was developed by DW and other stakeholders.

Be aware, though, that these programs do not always deliver accurate verdicts, as several of them are still in a developmental stage. The result in the case of the investment scam is that the video is a deepfake with a 94% probability.

Spotting the (in)visible

You do not need to become a deepfake expert to distinguish what is real from what is fake.

Firstly, slow down and look again. Think before you share. Ask yourself: Can this really be true? Would you expect this to happen? If you are not sure, don't share.

Also, do a quick check to see if you can find the same story or narrative from different and trustworthy sources. A brief internet search on a headline will give you leads on the real story.

You can also find another version and compare. If you do not trust a claim, an image or a video, then describe it in a Google or DuckDuckGo search, find another version, and then compare the two versions. You can use a standard internet search for this or try a reverse image search.

Detecting (almost in)visible traces in synthetic and manipulated media is a much bigger challenge. Such manipulation can be detected by looking for strange "jumps" in a video, a change of voice emphasis, low-quality audio, blurred spots, strange shapes of limbs, and other unusual inconsistencies. Trust your senses and gut feeling. Always ask yourself: Does this make sense? Could this really be true? Look carefully and always look twice. Focus on details and ask a friend or colleague for a second opinion.

Check for known deepfake giveaways, such as a perfectly symmetrical face; mismatched earrings or glass frames; unusual ear, nose and tooth shapes; loss of contrast; inconsistencies in the neck area, hair or fingers that are not connected.

Sometimes you will need to watch a video frame by frame to detect these inconsistencies. You can do that with a local video player (for example VLC) or online with watchframebyframe.com. Zoom in on mouth and lip movements and compare them with your own human behaviour to detect lip synchronisation. What should a mouth look like when making a certain sound?

Dangers of deepfake technology

The impact of deepfake technology is profound in the domain of pornography, including so-called revenge porn. Fake porn videos and images are being published widely and causing harm to its victims, who range from celebrities to school kids.

For society, the danger of deepfakes also lies in the way of consuming media nowadays. The average person is inundated with media while online — and is not always certain that what they share is actually true.

In polarised societies, that behaviour leaves ample opportunity to fool people into believing something — no matter the veracity. Therefore, the quality of the video isn't even all that important. It's about what you've apparently seen, with your own eyes, even if it's not true: that then-Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis gave Germany the middle finger; that David Beckham spoke nine languages; or that Mark Zuckerberg said he controls you because he controls your stolen data.

One politically motivated deepfake that went viral in the Netherlands was created by the news site "De Correspondent" and appears to show Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte state a major change in his policy: From now on, he will fully support far-reaching climate measures.

Then there is the "liar's dividend", which suggests that some politicians profit from an informational environment saturated with misinformation. The mere existence of this technology allows people to claim that whatever they have said is a deepfake and to prove it is actually real is extremely challenging.