Elon Musk dubbed 'biased' for reposting manipulated Harris campaign video in violation of X’s policies

WASHINGTON, DC: Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has gotten involved in one of the most complex issues in US politics, ie, deepfake videos.

On Friday, July 26, the 53-year-old billionaire owner of the social media platform X, reposted an edited campaign video for Vice President Kamala Harris that seems to have been digitally altered to change the spot's voice-over misleadingly, according to The New York Times.

The video imitates VP Harris' voice, but rather than using her words from the original campaign advertisement, it features the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee saying that President Joe Biden is mentally senile, that she does not “know the first thing about running the country” and that, as a woman and a person of color, she is the "ultimate diversity hire."

Furthermore, the clip was altered to eliminate images of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-Ohio), to include images of President Biden. The original, unedited advertisement, released by the Harris campaign on Thursday, is titled "We Choose Freedom."

The edited version posted on X lacks a disclaimer, although the account that initially uploaded it on Friday morning, @MrReaganUSA, mentioned in its post that the video was a "parody."

When the CEO of Tesla Motors reposted the video on his own X account eight hours later, he made no such disclosure, simply stating, "This is amazing," followed by a laughing emoji.

Elon Musk's tweet, which has been viewed 98 million times since, appears to violate X's policies, which forbid the sharing of "synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm."

What did X users and social media experts say about Elon Musk violating his company’s policies?

On Saturday, July 27, Alex Howard, an expert in digital governance and the head of the Digital Democracy Project at the Demand Progress Education Fund replied to Musk's contentious tweet, saying, “This is a violation of @X’s policies on synthetic media & misleading identities. Are you going to retroactively change them to allow violations in an election year?”

Elon Musk did not respond when asked for comment. The individual behind the @MrReaganUSA account, seemingly a conservative podcast host named Chris Kohls, also did not respond to the inquiry.

In an official statement, the Harris campaign asserted, “The American people want the real freedom, opportunity, and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”

Concerns from pro-democracy groups about deepfakes, a term encompassing digital content created using AI and other technology to spread misleading information potentially influencing voter behavior, have been steadily growing.

Before the New Hampshire Democratic primary in January, voters received robocalls utilizing AI to mimic President Biden's voice, advising them not to participate in the election.

The political consultant responsible for these calls was later indicted on state charges of impersonating a candidate and voter suppression.

During this year's Republican primary, numerous deepfake videos emerged, showing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsing Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida or him announcing his early withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.

In March, the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, an academic research initiative, stated that the technology was “already having a corrosive effect on the democratic process.”

The Brennan Center for Justice also highlighted generative AI's significant new threat to elections, emphasizing its impact on “the information ecosystem.”

The Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits the fraudulent misrepresentation of federal candidates or political parties. However, the 1971 law does not specifically address modern technologies like artificial intelligence, leaving ambiguity.

Last August, the Federal Election Commission approved a rule-making petition from the watchdog group Public Citizen calling for clarification in the law to cover “deliberately deceptive Artificial Intelligence (AI) campaign advertisements.”

This amendment was supported by the Democratic National Committee and 52 Democratic members of Congress but opposed by the Republican National Committee. The opposition stated that the amendment was not the right approach to address this complex issue and argued that it could violate the First Amendment.

The commission, evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans and often split on policy matters, has not yet voted on the proposal.

What happened to the tweet after Elon Musk reposted it?

The current policy of X was established in April 2023, long after Elon Musk assumed control. It defines misleading media as content that has been “significantly and deceptively altered, manipulated or fabricated” and is “likely to result in widespread confusion on public issues.” According to the policy, such content must either be labeled or removed.

Previously, Musk has stated that X's "Community Notes" feature should be utilized to notify the public about potentially misleading information. On Friday night, a select group of Community Notes users who propose and vote on such notices discussed whether to add a note to Musk's reposted tweet.

One suggested Community Note read, "This is an AI-generated video of Vice President Kamala Harris using audio of clips that were never actually stated by the VP. Videos like this are dangerous to those who can not decipher AI-generated content from reality.”

At least seven Community Notes were proposed, but none had been added to Musk's post or the original post by Saturday evening, and neither post has been removed from the social media platform.

Although numerous third-party posts on X have questioned his promotion of a deepfake video, Musk, who often directly responds to critics on the site, has remained silent on the issue thus far.

With 191 million followers, Elon Musk is the most influential voice on X and arguably on all social media platforms out there. He is capable of making almost any content go viral simply by reposting it.

Two weeks ago, he endorsed former President Donald Trump in a post on X shortly after the 78-year-old Republican presidential nominee was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. That post has garnered 218 million views.

On Saturday afternoon, Musk used his account to amplify a post by an anonymous user that stated "wokeness is a threat to civilization." Within six minutes, it had already been viewed 481,000 times.

Internet derided Elon Musk for reposting an edited Harris campaign video in clear violation of X’s policies

People online criticized the billionaire owner of the social media platform X for reposting a video that mimics Vice President Kamala Harris’s voice, without mentioning that it had been edited.

One X user remarked, "You can take the man out of Apartheid, but you can't take the Apartheid out of the man."

Another user quipped, "Musk is sinking as fast as X, Tesla, and Trump."

Another user argued, "Many people defend .@elonmusk owning what he calls a “news platform,” and putting his thumb on the scale of the race. This is exactly why. He has become so biased now, that he is violating the very rules his company established, in order for the horse HE has in the race, to win."

One X user wrote, "Elon is such a loser."

Another user claimed, "Elon Musk is the Joseph Goebbels of modern times."

Finally, this user tweeted, "One set of rules for Elon, and another set of rules for everyone else."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.