Twitter releases draft for deepfake policy, calls for consumer feedback

Twitter recently drafted a list of steps it will take upon seeing synthetic and manipulated media, often referred to as deepfakes or shallowfakes, that intentionally tries to mislead or confuse users.

Del Harvey, Twitter's VP, trust and safety, said in a blog post that it may place a notice next to tweets that share?synthetic or manipulated media; warn people before they share or like Tweets with synthetic or manipulated media; or add a link ? for example, to a news article or Twitter Moment. This is so that people can read more about why various sources believe the media is synthetic or manipulated. Additionally, if a tweet including synthetic or manipulated media is misleading and could threaten someone's physical safety or lead to other serious harm, the company may remove it.

Twitter defines synthetic and manipulated media as?any photo, audio, or video that has been significantly altered or fabricated in a way that intends to mislead people or changes its original meaning.

According to Harvey, the company is also seeking feedback from users via a brief survey available in?English, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. The feedback period will close on 27 November, Wednesday, 11:50 pm GMT. At that point, Twitter will review the input it has received,?make adjustments, and begin the process of incorporating the policy into the Twitter Rules. It will also train?enforcement teams on how to handle this content, and make another announcement at least 30 days before the policy goes into effect.

For languages not represented, Harvey said the team is working?closely with local non-governmental organisations and policymakers to ensure their perspectives are represented. In October, the company said in a series of tweets that it is working on a new policy to address synthetic and manipulated media on Twitter and would like input from users. It explained previously that it is taking such steps as it needs to consider how synthetic media is shared on Twitter in potentially damaging contexts. Twitter added that it wants to listen and consider users' perspectives in its policy development process and wants to be transparent about its approach and values.

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