Elon Musk 'spreads' deepfake video of Kamala Harris

Elon Musk shares edited video of Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, amid rampant political misinformation.

“This is amazing,” Elon Musk commented on US presidential candidate Kamala Harris ’ campaign video with a “laughing tears” emoji. The video has now received more than 127 million views, 924,000 likes and 213,000 reposts.

However, the video is actually a "parody" of Harris' "We Choose Freedom" campaign, and was created by YouTuber Mr. Reagan by keeping the original video footage, but replacing the audio with an AI voice.

Video Musk shared on X. Photo: Bao Lam

The content includes statements Ms. Harris has never said in public, such as calling US President Joe Biden an "old man" and a "puppet of the deep state", and believing that she "will not be criticized for being a woman and a person of color".

When Regan posted the video on YouTube and X, he said it was “a parody.” When Musk shared it, he did not issue a similar warning.

According to Mashable , despite owning X, Musk deliberately ignored the fact that this video violated the platform's terms of service, which prohibits "synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm." In the comments section, many people also criticized the American billionaire for claiming he had his own rights on X and not following the rules in the context of the platform having many problems with spreading misinformation.

After Biden announced he would not run for president in 2024 and tapped Harris to replace him, deepfakes featuring her have surged. According to a July 22 report by Media Matters for America, thousands of fake Harris videos have been circulating on X and TikTok, some of which have reached tens of millions of views. However, while TikTok says it is working to remove the videos, X has yet to do so.

Elon Musk and X have not commented.