Facebook removes ‘deepfake’ of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, took down a fake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asking Ukrainians to lay down their weapons.

Sky News reported on Wednesday that the deepfake was broadcasted on a Ukrainian news website after an alleged hack. The video shows an edited Zelenskyy speaking behind a podium, saying that the war efforts of his nation had failed.

Zelenskyy's head is larger than his body in the video, and is more cartoonish. The fake voice is deeper than the real one.

As a matter of principle, I never post or link to fake or false content. But @MikaelThalen has helpfully whacked a label on this Zelensky one, so here goes.



I've seen some well-made deepfakes. This, however, has to rank among the worst of all time.pic.twitter.com/6OTjGxT28a

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) March 16, 2022

Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta's head of security policy, announced on Wednesday that the video had been removed from the company's platforms. Gleicher said that it appeared on a compromised website and started showing across the internet.

The Ukrainian government warned soldiers and civilians to take a break when they see videos of Zelenskyy online, especially if he announces a surrender to the Russians. According to the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications, the Russian government would likely use deepfakes to convince Ukrainians to surrender.

Videos made through such technologies are almost impossible to distinguish from the real ones. This is not real. The statement said that his goal was to sow panic and cause our troops to retreat.

Zelenskyy advised the troops of the Russian Federation to lay down their weapons after the deepfake started to circulate.

Ahead of the US presidential election, Facebook banned deepfakes and other manipulated videos. Content created by artificial intelligence or machine learning is included in the policy.