In a clip, the Ukrainian president declares the capitulation. But the video is fake. Now the deepfake is actively being deleted from platforms.
“Dear Ukrainians!” – with these words begins a video that is currently doing the rounds on the Internet. “Being president wasn’t that easy,” continues the person who looks like Volodymyr Zelensky. What follows does not fit at all with the picture that has been shown by the Ukrainian President in recent days. “There is no tomorrow. At least not for me. I suggest you pack your guns and go back to your families,” says the video. With good reason: Both the picture and the sound are fake.
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The clip was shared across Ukraine 24’s broadcaster and social media channels. The TV station then shared a warning and announced that they had been hacked. “The report of the capitulation is false. A fake. We were hacked by hostile hackers,” says a statement. According to “Vice.com”, no group has so far complained about the attack on the TV station.
Selensky denies
At first glance, the fake message seems quite convincing. Zelensky’s head moves naturally, his voice is similar to that of the Ukrainian president and just as deep. However, the unnatural blinking, a false accent and the fact that the head of the fake president looks as if it was simply placed on a photo of the body are revealing.
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After the fake clip circulated, Ukraine 24 shared a clip of the President. In it, the real Volodymyr Zelensky denies the claims and assures that Ukraine has not capitulated. Officials from Facebook, YouTube and Twitter said the video had been removed from their platforms because it violated guidelines.
However, the fraudulent video was promoted on Russian social media, such as Vkontakte.ru. “I suspect this video is just the tip of the iceberg,” Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, told National Public Radio. Farid is an expert in digital media forensics
Deepfake warning
It is not yet clear who created the deepfake. However, Ukraine has been warning for weeks about the possibility that Russia could distribute manipulated videos as part of its information warfare.
Already in early March, the official channel of the Land Forces of Ukraine warned against the use of the technology. “Deepfake videos are created by machine learning algorithms. They are almost indistinguishable from the real thing. The aim of these messages is to disorient citizens, sow panic and despair and induce our troops to surrender,” reads a Facebook post. The Ukrainian defense intelligence service has also warned against the use.