Abstract
The production and spreading of manipulated videos have been on the rise over the past years, and is expected to continue and increase further. Manipulating videos have become easier from a technological perspective, and can be done with freely available tools that require less expert knowledge and fewer resources than in the past. All this poses new challenges for those who aim to tackle the spreading of false, manipulated or misleading video content. This chapter covers many of the aspects raised above. It deals with the motivations of those involved in video verification, showcases respective requirements and highlights the importance and relevance of tackling disinformation on social networks. Furthermore, an overview of the state of the art of available techniques and technologies is provided. The chapter then describes the emergence of new threats like so-called ‘deep fakes’ created with the help of artificial intelligence. Finally, we formulate an empirical typology of false videos spreading online.
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Notes
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User-generated content.
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By OSINT we mean information and data that is gathered from public (or open) sources. OSINT tools are digital tools (software, platforms) that are freely available and facilitate research and investigations, such as satellite imagery to identify or cross-check a particular geographic location.
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ATTENTION: the video that is linked here includes graphic imagery that some people may find disturbing and/or painful to watch. Do not view unless you are prepared accordingly. In case of viewing the video (this also applies to other disturbing/traumatic imagery) and this having negative effects on you, do not hesitate to seek professional help.
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See, for example, an interview with one of the reporters of the story, Aliaume Leroy, on CBC Radio Canada. The site includes a link to an 8-minute audio interview with Leroy about the team’s work on the case: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-Monday-edition-1.4836241/how-bbc-africa-uncovered-the-story-behind-an-execution-video-of-women-and-children-1.4836248.
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Christoph Koettl, quoted on Poynter in the article Amnesty International launches video verification tool, website, by Craig Silverman, 8 July 2014. https://www.poynter.org/news/amnesty-international-launches-video-verification-tool-website.
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Some user feedback has been collected in Twitter Moments here: https://twitter.com/i/moments/888495915610275840.
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Deep fakes are particularly popular on Reddit. Apps (such as FakeApp) exist that allow users with little to no technical knowledge to create video manipulations—some of it amusing and rather creative. Inserting the actor Nicolas Cage into deep fake videos, in turn, has almost become its own sub-genre. Other usage ‘scenarios’—besides celebrity manipulations—are (child) pornography, revenge porn, extortion and mis-/disinformation of various types.
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In the referenced video, Barrack Obama’s mouth is lip-synced automatically. The words that seem to be spoken by Obama come from actor and film-maker Jordan Peele, who does an impression of the former US President. Obama (aka Peele) says things like ‘This is a dangerous time. Moving forward, we need to be more vigilant with what we trust from the internet. This is a time when we need to rely on trusted news sources’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ54GDm1eL0.
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Sam Dubberley, Special Advisor to Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab (and an InVID project reviewer), interviewed by Jochen Spangenberg on 27 September 2018.
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Here is a selection: https://youtu.be/ccENfRThXOk.
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Watch the (fabricated) video sequence here: https://youtu.be/1KFj6b1Xfe8?t=14. It was created for the US-based ‘The Ellen Show’. Here https://youtu.be/ABy_1sL-R3s you can see the original video footage next to the manipulated version.
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See the video here: https://youtu.be/Xb0P5t5NQWM. The video is the product of three students studying animation and digital design at Montreal’s Centre NAD, as part of a digitised class project, not a real snatching. See also NPR update: ‘Eagle Snatches Kid’ Video Makers Admit Hoax, by Mark Memmott, 19 December 2012. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/12/19/167610327/eagle-snatches-kid-video-the-debunking-begins?t=1537977241104.
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This video https://youtu.be/A-8Ig67O3ck of a plane crash of a US cargo Boeing 747 near Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, in May 2013 is one such video. Whenever there is a new plane crash, this video (and others that capture previous plane crashes—of which there are not that many) are being shared and distributed pretending to be of the current plane crash. WARNING: some people may find watching the video distressing or disturbing, as it portrays a real plane crash that resulted in the loss of lives.
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Dealing with traumatic imagery and gruesome material is not the focus of this chapter. Nevertheless, it is of vital importance in this context and deserves utmost attention in order to avoid trauma. Equally important: to learn and develop respective coping mechanisms. For more on the dealings with digital material and its possible psychological effects see, for example, the work of Eyewitness Media Hub (now incorporated into First Draft News) and the Dart Center. A very useful read is the study [8].
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Teyssou, D., Spangenberg, J. (2019). Video Verification: Motivation and Requirements. In: Mezaris, V., Nixon, L., Papadopoulos, S., Teyssou, D. (eds) Video Verification in the Fake News Era. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26752-0_1
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