A deepfake app used the image of Emma Watson to run a massive ad campaign on Meta Group’s social media, NBC News reported Tuesday. In a fake video posted on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger on Sunday and Monday, the American actress appears to be imitating a sexual act.
The “deepfake” makes it possible, in particular, to substitute one face for another in a video or to falsify the words of a character with disconcerting realism. Increasingly, the technology is being used to create non-consensual pornographic content, according to NBC News.
The American news site says that the app has displayed more than 230 ads on Meta services. Some looked like the beginning of the porn videos, with the intro audio track from the videos on the Pornhub site. Then the faces of famous women appear, exchanged thanks to the deepfake.
Of the ads, 127 featured the face of Emma Watson. The star of the Harry Potter saga is not the only one who has fallen victim to this trap: 74 ads also featured the face of actress Scarlett Johansson. On Tuesday, all of those ads were removed from Meta’s networks after NBC News tried to contact the group.
prohibited sexual content
The application offers dozens of video templates, divided by category: “Fashion”, “For men”, “For women” or even “Hot”. After uploading a template or importing a video, users can swap the face of the video with anyone just from a photo.
The app’s terms of service state that it does not allow users to impersonate others through its services and upload sexually explicit content. For its part, Meta has banned most deepfake content in 2020 and the company is banning adult content in ads.
Targeted by social media, this isn’t the first time Emma Watson has paid the price for a hack created by artificial intelligence. In late January, voice synthesis software made the actress recite passages from “Mein Kampf,” the book by Adolf Hitler.
Source: BFM TV
