Elon Musk, owner of Platform X (formerly Twitter) and outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, recently shared a deepfake video mocking a campaign by US Vice President Kamala Harris. The move has sparked controversy, not only because of the video’s manipulated content, but also because it appears to violate the platform’s own policies against synthetic and altered media. The video Musk shared is a manipulated version of a recent campaign video by Harris, which features her saying things she never said. The original video was labeled a “parody,” but Musk’s repost was not, where the AI-generated content label, required by X’s prolicy, was omitted. Instead, Musk added his own comment: “This is awesome,” accompanied by a laughing emoji.
The event highlights how AI-altered media could influence elections, while legislation to address it is still being developed. For example, earlier this year, a robocall using AI to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice urged voters in New Hampshire to stay home during the primary. Election officials are training staff on how to handle AI interference on or before Election Day, while rules for AI claims in ads are still being developed or awaiting a vote.
According to X’s policies, “synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that is likely to deceive or confuse people and cause harm” is not allowed on the platform. X says it first evaluates whether content has been “significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated,” which includes “dubbed audio” added or modified “that fundamentally changes the understanding, meaning, or context of the media.” X says satire doesn’t violate the policy unless it causes “significant confusion about the authenticity of the media.” Even a lenient reading of those policies would suggest Musk’s post violated them.
Musk’s post has generated backlash from the political left. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar wrote on Threads that if Musk’s post is left without context, X and Musk will “not only be violating X’s own rules, but will be unleashing an entire election season of AI-generated or altered false content with no limits, regardless of party.” Klobuchar has proposed legislation to require disclosures about political ads that have been materially altered or generated with AI. California Governor Gavin Newsom also criticized Musk’s post, writing that such an action should be illegal and adding that he will sign a law in the coming weeks to ensure it is. In response, Musk shared a link to the original post of the digitally altered video that included the parody label: “I checked with global authorities on this matter, and it appears satire is still legal in America,” he added.
