Downward angle icon Downward angle icon. Elon Musk. Apu Gomes via Getty Images Elon Musk is defending himself after reposting a deepfake of Kamala Harris and writing “Suggon Deeznutz.” The video, a parody of Harris’ election ad, appears to have been digitally altered. Musk’s repost lacks context and may violate X’s rules on synthetic and manipulated media.
Elon Musk is defending himself with a workplace ban rebuttal after reposting a deepfake video of Vice President Kamala Harris on X.
The video, which Musk first re-shared on Friday night, features a supposedly AI-generated version of Harris’ voice over footage from her actual campaign ad, in which the fake Harris calls herself the “ultimate diversity hire” and a “puppet of the deep state.”
In response to California Governor Gavin Newsom writing to X that such digitally altered ads should be illegal, Musk posted early Monday morning that he had “checked with Professor Sagon Deesnutz, a world-renowned authority, and he said parody is legal in the US.”
“Needless to say, Pritzker Prize-winning Dr. Head, whose first name is Dick,” Musk wrote in two further comments, adding that “Newsom should establish an endowed chair at UC for Professor Deesnuts.”
The video was originally posted by user @MrReaganUSA, who noted that it was a “parody” of Harris’ first campaign ad since becoming the Democratic nominee for 2024 presidential election.
“I was chosen because I am the ultimate diversity hire. I am a woman and a person of color, so anyone who criticizes what I have to say is sexist and racist,” an edited voiceover narrator says in the video.
The deceptive narration also states that Biden has dementia and that Harris “knows nothing about running a country.”
Musk reposted the video, which has been viewed more than 129 million times, without mentioning that it had been edited, simply writing: “This is awesome 😂.”
This could violate X’s policy on synthetic and manipulated media, which states, “You may not share synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive, confuse, or harm people (‘misleading media’).”
X said that for the company to take action and remove or label posts that violate its policies, they must contain “media that is significantly deceptively altered,” “media that is shared in a deceptive manner or in a false context,” or media that could cause “widespread confusion about a public issue.”
The company said it would consider factors such as “whether there has been any added, edited or removed visual or auditory information (such as new video frames, dubbed audio, altered subtitles, etc.) that fundamentally changes the understanding, meaning or context of the media.”
So far, there are no signs that X, the platform Musk currently owns, will punish him.
Deepfake boom
Deepfakes use artificial intelligence to replace the likeness of a person in video or audio footage with that of another person.
Research has found that audio deepfakes are relatively easy to create but difficult to detect.
A number of politicians have fallen victim to the technology in the past, highlighting its potential to wreak havoc during election season.
A video that went viral on social media last year showed Hillary Clinton unexpectedly endorsing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but Reuters reported that the video was generated by an AI.
Biden was also a victim of deepfakes after he announced he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
A video posted to social media appeared to show the president attacking and hurling abuse at his critics, but AFP reported that the footage was also a deepfake.
