The fabricated video, which is drawn from actual footage, shows the State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, seeming to suggest that the Russian city of Belgorod, just 25 miles north of Ukraine’s border with Russia, was a legitimate target for such strikes.
The 49-second video clip, which has an authentic feel despite telltale clues of manipulation, illustrates the growing threat of disinformation and especially so-called deepfake videos powered by artificial intelligence.
. . .
Belgorod “has essentially no civilians remaining,” the video purports to show Mr. Miller saying at the State Department in response to a reporter’s question, which was also manufactured. “It’s practically full of military targets at this point, and we are seeing the same thing starting in the regions around there.”
I guess the target audience is Russian citizens and military personnel?
Yes.
From an American point of view:
If successful on their people, they’ll be using it on social to make up bullshit with “proof” that fuels MAGA rhetoric and make the divide in America even worse. The difference is that now when we ask for proof of these lies then they will have something that is pretty tangible to all but those who really know how to spot it.
They could even do it on the flip side and make horrible videos of Republicans saying things that they didn’t to make the left hate them even more and even if they said they didn’t do it we wouldn’t believe them because they’ve done and said horrible stuff already.
Scary shit!