Kamala Harris’s election campaign has accused Elon Musk of spreading “manipulated lies” after the Tesla CEO posted a manipulated video featuring the vice president on his X account.
On Friday night, Musk reposted a doctored video from Harris’ campaign in which a fake voiceover of Harris says, “I was selected because I’m the most diverse hire” and that anyone who criticizes her is “sexist and racist.”
The video has been viewed 128 million times on Musk’s account after the world’s richest man… I posted it with the words “This is amazing,” followed by a laughing emoji. Musk owns X, which he rebranded from Twitter last year.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar accused Musk of violating the platform’s guidelines. According to X Synthetic and manipulated media policyUsers are prohibited from sharing “synthetic, manipulated or out-of-context media that may mislead or confuse people and cause harm,” though satire is allowed as long as it does not “cause significant confusion about the authenticity of the media.”
In a statement to the Associated Press, a spokesperson for Harris’ presidential campaign said: “The American people want the true freedom, opportunity and security that Vice President Harris offers; not the false and manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”
The video was originally posted by the @MrReaganUSA account, which is linked to conservative YouTuber podcaster Chris Kohls, on X and is labeled as a parody.
KAMALA HRIS CAMPAIGN AD PARODY image.twitter.com/5lBxvyTZ3o
— Mr. Reagan 🇺🇸 (@MrReaganUSA) July 26, 2024
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However, Musk, who has endorsed Donald Trump’s candidacy, did not call the video a parody when he posted it.
California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on X on Sunday night that the manipulated Harris video should be “illegal” and that he would soon sign a bill banning such media, an apparent reference to a proposal backed by California lawmakers to ban “materially misleading” election fakes.
Musk responded on X that “parody is legal in the United States,” including the original video from @MrReaganUSA below.
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A deepfake expert told AP that Harris’ video showed the power of generative AI and deepfakes.
“The AI-generated voice is very good,” said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “While most people won’t believe it’s Vice President Harris’ voice, the video is much more powerful when the words are in her voice.”
