xQc said, 'The thing is, with IRLs, it’s a lot of fun, but it fosters the very bad part of everything'

Once kept firmly at arm's length by the fashion world, influencers are now courted alongside big celebrity names by emerging talents keen to leverage...

A first ever study of wartime “deepfake” videos has found the fake content undermined viewers’ trust in conflict footage to the point they became critical of all footage coming from warzones. The study, from researchers at University College Cork (UCC), is also the first of its kind to find evidence of online conspiracy theories which incorporate deepfakes. Deepfakes are artificially manipulated audio-visual material. Most deepfake videos involve the production of a fake “face” constructed by Artificial Intelligence, that is merged with an authentic video, in order to create a video of an event that never really took place. Although fake, they can look convincing and are often produced to imitate or mimic an individual. The study, titled A new type of weapon in the propaganda war, analysed close to 5,000 tweets on X (formerly Twitter) in the first seven months of 2022 to explore how people react to deepfake content online. The Russia-Ukraine war presented as the first real-life example of deepfakes being used in warfare. The researchers highlight examples of deepfake videos during this war including the use of video game footage as evidence of the urban myth fighter pilot “The Ghost of Kyiv”, and a deepfake of Russian president Vladimir Putin, showing the Russian president announcing peace with Ukraine. The study found deepfakes often undermined users’ trust in the footage they were receiving from the conflict to the point where they lost trust in any footage viewed. As well as the threat coming from the fake content itself, researchers found genuine media contact was being labelled as deepfakes. The study showed that the lack of social media literacy led to significant misunderstandings of what constitutes a deepfake, however, the study also demonstrated that efforts to raise awareness around deepfakes may undermine trust in legitimate videos. Therefore, the study asserts, news media and governmental agencies need to weigh the benefits of educational deepfakes and pre-bunking against the risks of undermining truth. John Twomey, UCC researcher, said much of the misinformation analysed in the study “surprisingly came from the labelling of real media as deepfakes”. “Novel findings about deepfake scepticism also emerged, including a connection between deepfakes fuelling conspiratorial beliefs and unhealthy scepticism,” he said. “The evidence in this study shows that efforts to raise awareness around deepfakes may undermine our trust in legitimate videos. “With the prevalence of deepfakes online, this will cause increasing challenges for news media companies who should be careful in how they label suspected deepfakes in case they cause suspicion around real media.” Mr Twomey added: “News coverage of deepfakes needs to focus on educating people on what deepfakes are, what their potential is, and both what their current capabilities are and how they will evolve in the coming years”. Dr Conor Linehan, from UCC’s School of Applied Psychology, said researchers “have long feared that deepfakes have the potential to undermine truth”. “Deepfake videos could undermine what we know to be true when fake videos are believed to be authentic and vice versa,” he said. This study is part of broader work by UCC’s School of Applied Psychology examining the psychological impact of deepfakes. Read More More than 500 potential cyber attacks logged every second, BT says AI being used to create child abuse imagery, watchdog warns ChatGPT and other chatbots ‘can be tricked into making code for cyber attacks’ Tinder adds Matchmaker feature to let friends recommend potential dates Google and Meta withdraw from upcoming Web Summit ‘Game-changing’ facial recognition technology catches prolific shoplifters

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Activision Blizzard Inc. will likely abandon a $69 billion takeover bid by Microsoft if the US Federal Trade

A quasi-independent review board recommends that Facebook temporarily suspend the social media accounts of Cambodia's prime minister

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 27, 2023--

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By Jody Godoy and Luc Cohen NEW YORK Former FTX executive Gary Wang is set to retake the

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Controversial sibling influencers the Island Boys say their mother “doesn’t care” that they kiss each other on OnlyFans. The identical twin brothers caught the attention of internet users last month after a disturbing clip emerged showing them kissing each other. Brothers Kodiyakredd (Franky Venegas) and Flyysoulja (Alex Venegas) shared the clip to promote their newly created OnlyFans account but were instantly hit with backlash from disturbed viewers. In response to the criticism, the pair claimed it was not “that big of a deal” and “really not disgusting” because they’re twins. Now, Flyysouljah has also commented on fans concerns about what their mother thinks, claiming that she “doesn’t care”. In a TikTok clip, he said: “My mom doesn’t care. My mom is proud of me, that I’m successful. I get to take very good care of her. I’m about to give her $10,000 to go invest in her own business.” @flyysouljah Replying to @Mrcalifornia7 #flyysoulja #fyp #islandboys #kodiyakredd He added: “So, she’s proud of me. I bought her an apartment, a car. She doesn’t really care what I do in my personal life, to be honest with you.” The video has been viewed almost one million times, but some fans weren’t buying that their mother did not care at all and questioned his dignity. One TikToker commented: “His mum definitely doesn’t know cuz if she does that’s WILD.” Someone else argued: “Bro your dignity shouldn't have a price tag. There's more to life than money.” Another said: “I would rather my mother cared.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered to host the United Nations sponsored COP conference in 2028, as he