Elon Musk posts deepfake of Kamala Harris that violates X policy

The video Musk shared on Friday alters a recent campaign video Harris released, one that makes it sound like the presidential candidate said things she didn’t. The manipulated clip has Harris saying things like she is “the ultimate diversity hire” and that she “had four years under the tutelage of the ultimate deep state puppet, a wonderful mentor, Joe Biden.” The original account that had posted the video labeled it, “Kamala Harris Campaign Ad PARODY,” a disclaimer that might prevent it from violating X’s policies. But this context did not appear in Musk’s repost. Instead, Musk’s post simply showed the video, adding his own commentary: “This is amazing,” with a laughing emoji.

It’s just the latest example of how AI-altered media could play a role in this election cycle and how the law has not fully caught up to deal with it. Earlier this year, for example, a robocall that used AI to mimic President Joe Biden’s voice urged New Hampshire voters to stay home during the primary. And election officials are training for how AI could get in the way on Election Day or in the lead-up to it, while rules around AI disclosures in ads remain in development or pending votes.

This has left platforms like X responsible for coming up with their own rules around misinformation. Under X’s policies, “synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm” is not allowed on the platform. X says it first evaluates if the content has been “significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated, or fabricated,” which it says includes “overdubbed audio” that’s been added or edited “that fundamentally changes the understanding, meaning, or context of the media.” Next, it considers the context, like whether it’s being presented as reality. And last, it determines if the content could lead to “widespread confusion on public issues, impact public safety, or cause serious harm.” X says that satire doesn’t violate the policy as long as it doesn’t “cause significant confusion about the authenticity of the media.” Even a lenient reading of these policies would suggest that Musk’s post violated these rules.

Musk’s post is already getting pushback from the left. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) wrote on Threads that if Musk’s post remains without context, X and Musk “will not only be violating X’s own rules, they’ll be unleashing an entire election season of fake AI voice and image-altered content with no limits, regardless of party.” Klobuchar has introduced legislation to require disclaimers on political ads substantially altered or generated with AI.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) also called out Musk’s post, writing on X that “Manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal,” adding that he’d be “signing a bill in a matter of weeks to make sure it is.”

Musk responded to that post with a link to the original post of the digitally altered video that includes the parody label: “I checked with renowned world authority, Professor Suggon Deeznutz, and he said parody is legal in America.”