AI

Meta’s new AI deepfake playbook: More labels, fewer takedowns

Comment

Image Credits: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Meta has announced changes to its rules on AI-generated content and manipulated media following criticism from its Oversight Board. Starting next month, the company said, it will label a wider range of such content, including by applying a “Made with AI” badge to deepfakes. Additional contextual information may be shown when content has been manipulated in other ways that pose a high risk of deceiving the public on an important issue.

The move could lead to the social networking giant labeling more pieces of content that have the potential to be misleading — important in a year of many elections taking place around the world. However, for deepfakes, Meta is only going to apply labels where the content in question has “industry standard AI image indicators,” or where the uploader has disclosed it’s AI-generated content.

AI-generated content that falls outside those bounds will, presumably, escape unlabeled. 

The policy change is also likely to lead to more AI-generated content and manipulated media remaining on Meta’s platforms, since it’s shifting to favor an approach focused on “providing transparency and additional context,” as the “better way to address this content” (rather than removing manipulated media, given associated risks to free speech).

So, for AI-generated or otherwise manipulated media on Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram, the playbook appears to be: more labels, fewer takedowns.

Meta said it will stop removing content solely on the basis of its current manipulated video policy in July, adding in a blog post published Friday that: “This timeline gives people time to understand the self-disclosure process before we stop removing the smaller subset of manipulated media.”

The change of approach may be intended to respond to rising legal demands on Meta around content moderation and systemic risk, such as the European Union’s Digital Services Act. Since last August, the EU law has applied a set of rules to its two main social networks that require Meta to walk a fine line between purging illegal content, mitigating systemic risks and protecting free speech. The bloc is also applying extra pressure on platforms ahead of elections to the European Parliament this June, including urging tech giants to watermark deepfakes where technically feasible.

The upcoming U.S. presidential election in November is also likely on Meta’s mind.

Oversight Board criticism

Meta’s advisory board, which the tech giant funds but permits to run at arm’s length, reviews a tiny percentage of its content moderation decisions but can also make policy recommendations. Meta is not bound to accept the board’s suggestions, but in this instance it has agreed to amend its approach.

In a blog post published Friday, Monika Bickert, Meta’s VP of content policy, said the company is amending its policies on AI-generated content and manipulated media based on the board’s feedback. “We agree with the Oversight Board’s argument that our existing approach is too narrow since it only covers videos that are created or altered by AI to make a person appear to say something they didn’t say,” she wrote.

Back in February, the Oversight Board urged Meta to rethink its approach to AI-generated content after taking on the case of a doctored video of President Biden that had been edited to imply a sexual motive to a platonic kiss he gave his granddaughter.

While the board agreed with Meta’s decision to leave the specific content up, they attacked its policy on manipulated media as “incoherent” — pointing out, for example, that it only applies to video created through AI, letting other fake content (such as more basically doctored video or audio) off the hook. 

Meta appears to have taken the critical feedback on board.

“In the last four years, and particularly in the last year, people have developed other kinds of realistic AI-generated content like audio and photos, and this technology is quickly evolving,” Bickert wrote. “As the Board noted, it’s equally important to address manipulation that shows a person doing something they didn’t do.

“The Board also argued that we unnecessarily risk restricting freedom of expression when we remove manipulated media that does not otherwise violate our Community Standards. It recommended a ‘less restrictive’ approach to manipulated media like labels with context.”

Earlier this year, Meta announced it was working with others in the industry on developing common technical standards for identifying AI content, including video and audio. It’s leaning on that effort to expand labeling of synthetic media now.

“Our ‘Made with AI’ labels on AI-generated video, audio and images will be based on our detection of industry-shared signals of AI images or people self-disclosing that they’re uploading AI-generated content,” said Bickert, noting the company already applies “Imagined with AI” labels to photorealistic images created using its own Meta AI feature.

The expanded policy will cover “a broader range of content in addition to the manipulated content that the Oversight Board recommended labeling,” per Bickert.

“If we determine that digitally-created or altered images, video or audio create a particularly high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of importance, we may add a more prominent label so people have more information and context,” she wrote. “This overall approach gives people more information about the content so they can better assess it and so they will have context if they see the same content elsewhere.”

Meta said it won’t remove manipulated content — whether AI-based or otherwise doctored — unless it violates other policies (such as voter interference, bullying and harassment, violence and incitement, or other Community Standards issues). Instead, as noted above, it may add “informational labels and context” in certain scenarios of high public interest.

Meta’s blog post highlights a network of nearly 100 independent fact-checkers, which it says it’s engaged with to help identify risks related to manipulated content.

These external entities will continue to review false and misleading AI-generated content, per Meta. When they rate content as “False or Altered,” Meta said it will respond by applying algorithm changes that reduce the content’s reach — meaning stuff will appear lower in feeds so fewer people see it, in addition to Meta slapping an overlay label with additional information for those eyeballs that do land on it.

These third party fact-checkers look set to face an increasing workload as synthetic content proliferates, driven by the boom in generative AI tools. And because more of this stuff looks set to remain on Meta’s platforms as a result of this policy shift.

Meta to expand labelling of AI-generated imagery in election packed year

EU publishes election security guidance for social media giants and others in scope of DSA

More TechCrunch

Fisker is just a few days into its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the fight over its assets is already charged, with one lawyer claiming the startup has been liquidating assets…

The fight over Fisker’s assets is already heating up

A hacker is advertising customer data allegedly stolen from the Australia-based live events and ticketing company TEG on a well-known hacking forum. On Thursday, a hacker put up for sale…

Hacker claims to have 30 million customer records from Australian ticket seller giant TEG

Welcome to Startups Weekly — Haje‘s weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. Elon…

Tesla makes Musk best-paid CEO of all time and Fisker bites the dust

Dot is a new AI companion and chatbot that thrives on getting to know your innermost thoughts and feelings.

Dot’s AI really, really wants to get to know you

The e-fuels startup is working on producing fuel for aviation and maritime shipping using carbon dioxide and other waste carbon streams.

E-fuels startup Aether Fuels is raising $34.3 million, per filing

Fisker was facing “potential financial distress” as early as last August, according to a new filing in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding, which the EV startup initiated earlier this week.…

Fisker faced financial distress as early as last August

Cruise, the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, has agreed to pay a $112,500 fine for failing to provide full information about an accident involving one of its robotaxis last year.…

Cruise clears key hurdle to getting robotaxis back on roads in California

Feel Therapeutics has a pretty original deck, with some twists we rarely see; the company did a great job telling the overall story.

Pitch Deck Teardown: Feel Therapeutics’ $3.5M seed deck

The Rockset buy fits into OpenAI’s broader recent strategy of investing heavily in its enterprise sales and tech orgs.

OpenAI buys Rockset to bolster its enterprise AI

The U.S. government announced sanctions against 12 executives and senior leaders of the Russia-based cybersecurity giant Kaspersky. In a press release, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets…

US government sanctions Kaspersky executives

Style DNA, an AI-powered fashion stylist app, creates a personalized style profile from a single selfie. The app is particularly useful for people interested in seasonal color analysis, a process…

Style DNA gets a generative AI chatbot that suggests outfit ideas based on your color type

Rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts are surging among U.S. teens. A recent report from the Center of Disease Control found that nearly one in three girls have seriously…

Khosla-backed Marble, built by former Headway founders, offers affordable group therapy for teens

Cover says what sets it apart is the underlying technology it employs, which has been exclusively licensed from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

A new startup from Figure’s founder is licensing NASA tech in a bid to curb school shootings

Spotify is introducing a new “Basic” streaming plan in the United States, the company announced on Friday. The new plan costs $10.99 per month and includes all of the benefits…

Spotify launches a new Basic streaming plan in the US

Photographers say the social media giant is applying a ‘Made with AI’ label to photos they took, causing confusion for users.

Meta is tagging real photos as ‘Made with AI,’ say photographers

Website building platform Squarespace is selling Tock, its restaurant reservation service, to American Express in a deal worth $400 million — the exact figure that Squarespace paid for the service…

Squarespace sells restaurant reservation system Tock to American Express for $400M

Featured Article

Change Healthcare confirms ransomware hackers stole medical records on a ‘substantial proportion’ of Americans

The February ransomware attack on UHG-owned Change Healthcare stands as one of the largest-ever known digital thefts of U.S. medical records.

20 hours ago
Change Healthcare confirms ransomware hackers stole medical records on a ‘substantial proportion’ of Americans

Google said today that it globally paused its experiment that aimed to allow new kinds of real-money games on the Play Store, citing the challenges that come with the lack…

Google pauses its experiment to expand real-money games on the Play Store

Venture firms raised $9.3 billion in Q1 according to PitchBook data, which means this year likely won’t match or surpass 2023’s $81.8 billion total. While emerging managers are feeling the…

Kevin Hartz’s A* raises its second oversubscribed fund in three years

Google is making reviews of all your movies, TV shows, books, albums and games visible under one profile page starting June 24, according to an email sent to users last…

Google is making your movie and TV reviews visible under a new profile page

Zepto, an Indian quick commerce startup, has more than doubled its valuation to $3.6 billion in a new funding round of $665 million.

Zepto, a 10-minute delivery app, raises $665M at $3.6B valuation

Speak, the AI-powered language learning app, has raised new money from investors at double its previous valuation.

Language learning app Speak nets $20M, doubles valuation

SpaceX unveiled Starlink Mini, a more portable version of its satellite internet product that is small enough to fit inside a backpack.  Early Starlink customers were invited to purchase the…

SpaceX debuts portable Starlink Mini for $599

Ali Rathod-Papier has stepped down from her role as global head of compliance at corporate card expense management startup Brex to join venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) as a partner…

Brex’s compliance head has left the fintech startup to join Andreessen Horowitz as a partner

U.S. officials imposed the “first of its kind” ban arguing that Kaspersky threatens U.S. national security because of its links to Russia.

US bans sale of Kaspersky software citing security risk from Russia 

Apple has released Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 and Final Cut Camera, the company announced on Thursday. Both apps were previously announced during the company’s iPad event in May.…

Apple releases Final Cut Pro for iPad 2 and Final Cut Camera

Paris has quickly established itself as a major European center for AI startups, and now another big deal is in the works.

Poolside is raising $400M+ at a $2B valuation to build a supercharged coding co-pilot

The space industry is all abuzz about how SpaceX’s Starship, Blue Origin’s New Glenn, and other heavy-lift rockets will change just about everything. One likely consequence is that spacecraft will…

Gravitics prepares a testing gauntlet for a new generation of giant spacecraft

LTK (formerly LiketoKnow.it and RewardStyle), the influencer shopping app with 40 million monthly users, announced on Thursday the launch of a free direct message tool for creators to instantly share…

Influencer shopping app LTK gets an automatic direct message tool

YouTube appears to be taking a firm stance against Premium subscribers who attempt to use a VPN (virtual private network) to access cheaper subscription prices in other countries. This week,…

YouTube confirms crackdown on VPN users accessing cheaper Premium plans