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Journalists at Wall Street Journal to be taught to identify "deepfakes"

Elon Musk's face was superimposed on Sean Connery's to create a
Elon Musk's face was superimposed on Sean Connery's to create a

Journalists from one of America's leading newspapers are to be taught how to identify so-called "deepfakes" or doctored images and video footage.

The new technology, which MPs say "threatens democracy" and which has been described as a dangerous "propaganda weapon" are a threat to journalism, the Wall Street Journal said.

A new internal taskforce is made up of photo, video, research and news editors trained in identifying false content online. 

Deepfakes is a term used to describe artificial intelligence that mimics facial expressions. It can be used to build sophisticated propaganda videos by making anyone say things they haven’t said with uncanny realism.

The production of most deepfakes is based on a technique called "generative adversarial networks" or GANs. This allows forgers to swap the faces of two people, for example a politician and an actor, to make an authentic impersonation. 

The technology can also allow a mouth to be projected on someone else's face, combining the footage with new audio that can make it look like they are saying something different from the original message.

The WSJ says video editing software like Final Cut allows journalists to slow down video and view it frame by frame, revealing obvious glitches like glimmering and fuzziness around the mouth, or lighting issues in fake footage. 

WSJ researchers were able to identify a fake video of former US president Barack Obama because of box-like shapes around his teeth and a shifting chin and growing neck. 

Christine Glancey, a deputy editor on the ethics and standards team at WSJ, said raising awareness in the newsroom about the latest technology is "critical".

"We don’t know where future deepfakes might surface so we want all eyes watching out for disinformation."

Official monitors warned that deepfake videos produced by Russia-linked trolls are the latest weapon in the ongoing fake news war. 

So far videos featuring US president Donald Trump stating incorrect facts, or celebrities' faces graphed into pornographic footage, have been the main output of online trolls. Experts fear that as the technology becomes more sophisticated and widespread, the public will struggle to differentiate real videos from fakes. 

The UK-led East Stratcom Task Force, an EU counter-disinformation unit that monitors, analyses and debunks disinformation operations, told the Telegraph earlier this year that they expect politically-charged videos to become more widespread. 

The WSJ said it was working on new tools that can help to detect or prevent forged media from emerging in legitimate news.