c/deepfake-drama

14

reese_lee9•1d ago

Spent 4 hours trying to prove a video of my mayor was fake before I found the original clip from a 2018 news segment.

What's the fastest way you guys check if something is a deepfake before you start digging for hours?

28

drewr15•2d ago

My buddy sent me a fake video of our old coach last week and I totally fell for it

It was a clip of him supposedly announcing a reunion game. The voice and face looked perfect, even the background was our old gym. I got excited and texted three people before my buddy called laughing. He used some free app and made it in like 20 minutes. It's wild how easy it is to make something that feels so real now. Makes you second guess every video link you get sent. Anyone else have a friend pull a deepfake prank that actually worked?

13

alicemurphy•2d ago

I saw a deepfake of my local mayor giving a speech about a new park, and I believed it for three days.

It happened at the diner near the truck stop in Terre Haute. I was having coffee and the guy next to me, another driver named Ray, showed me a video on his phone. It looked exactly like Mayor Jenkins announcing they were canceling the new playground project to fund road repairs. Ray said he got it from a neighborhood Facebook group. I was annoyed about the park and even mentioned it to my neighbor. Then, on Thursday, I saw the real mayor on the local news, talking about the playground opening next month. The video Ray had was a fake, and it was made really well. It made me realize I'll never just trust a video clip again, especially from some random link. How do you guys check if something's real online now?

11

nelson.vera•4d ago

My cousin showed me a fake video of our grandpa at a party in Chicago last summer.

He said 'you can't trust anything you see anymore' and now I always check the source before believing any wild clip online. How do you guys verify stuff before sharing it?

5

hannah320•4d ago

My cousin showed me a fake video of our grandpa at a party in Chicago last summer.

It was a deepfake someone made as a joke, but for a second I totally believed he was there. It made me realize how easy it is to make a fake memory feel real now. Has anyone else had a moment where a deepfake messed with their head like that?

26

karencampbell•6d ago

My cousin made a deepfake of our grandpa giving a speech and it got weird

We were at a family reunion in Cleveland last month, and my cousin Dave showed us a video he made. It was our grandpa, who passed away 5 years ago, giving a toast about the family. The voice was perfect, but the mouth moved like a bad puppet. My aunt started crying, my uncle got mad and called it creepy, and Dave just stood there looking confused. It totally killed the mood for like an hour. Has anyone else had a family moment ruined by a weird deepfake attempt?

14

claire_davis31•10d ago

My little brother asked me a question about a video game streamer that made me pause

He's 14 and was watching a streamer play Valorant. He said, 'Claire, how do you know this is really him live and not just a really good fake?' I laughed at first, but then he showed me a clip from a few months ago where the streamer's face looked a bit off. He said he saw a comment saying it was a deepfake from a rival fan group trying to make him say dumb stuff. I never even thought about people faking live streams. It hit different because he wasn't worried about big news or politics, just whether his favorite gamer was actually playing. Made me realize this stuff is trickling into spaces I thought were safe from that kind of doubt. Has anyone else seen weird stuff in gaming or live streams lately that made them second guess?

3

the_rowan•11d ago

Saw a deepfake of my local weather guy doing stand-up comedy at the mall

Honestly, I was at the Springfield Mall food court last week and this screen had a video of our local Channel 8 weather guy, Mike, doing a full comedy set. It was his face, his voice, everything, but the jokes were wild. I stood there for like 5 minutes before I realized the lips were a bit off and the background was just a green screen. Ngl, it messed with my head a bit because I trust that guy to tell me if it's gonna rain. Has anyone else seen a deepfake of someone they actually know in real life?

17

smith.nancy•14d ago

PSA: I just paid $200 for a 'deepfake detection' tool that totally failed me

Last month, a video of my cousin saying some wild stuff started going around our family chat. I was sure it was fake, so I bought a $200 yearly sub to a tool called 'VeriScan' to prove it. It gave the video a 95% 'real' score, which made everyone believe it MORE. Turns out my cousin's friend made it as a dumb joke with a free app. Has anyone else been burned by a detection service that got it completely wrong?

21

park.miles•15d ago

My deepfake spotting video got 10,000 views in a week

I made a short video breaking down a fake clip of a local mayor. I just pointed out the bad lip sync and the weird ear shadow. Posted it on a Tuesday, and by the next Monday it had over 10k views. It matters because a bunch of comments said they would have believed it without my breakdown. How do you even start to trust a video now?

4

angelarivera•18d ago

My cousin's face showed up in a video selling a weight loss scam

Last Tuesday, I got a text from my aunt asking if my cousin had a new job as a spokesperson. She sent a link to a video on a weird health site where someone who looked and sounded exactly like my cousin was pushing these fake diet pills. The video was smooth, no weird glitches, and it even used her real voice from a podcast clip. It took us three days to get the site to take it down, and we had to show her real social media to prove it was fake. The scary part is how many of our older relatives believed it was real at first. It made me realize that if you see it, you might just trust it without a second thought. Has anyone else had to deal with a deepfake of someone they know?

22

aaron_mitchell•18d ago

I read that a deepfake of a CEO's voice tricked a UK energy firm into sending $243,000

The article in The Guardian said scammers used AI to mimic the executive's speech. Has anyone else seen deepfakes used for fraud like that?

9

finleyl39•21d ago

Rant: My buddy's 'deepfake' of me giving a speech at his wedding almost got me in real trouble

He used an app to make it look like I was confessing to pranking the groom, and half the guests believed it for a solid 20 minutes before we showed the original footage. Anyone else have a joke deepfake backfire on them?

5

pat781•23d ago

My uncle's face showed up on a fake ad for a weight loss pill

I was scrolling through a local news site last week and saw a video of him, looking slimmer, talking about some miracle supplement. I did a reverse image search and found the same clip used for three other fake products, all with different faces pasted on. How do you even start to explain to family that their face is being used like this?

12

the_susan•23d ago

Watching my cousin's face on a fake news clip was a gut punch

It took me a full 48 hours to convince our family group chat it wasn't real, even after I found the original video from a 2019 concert. How do you even start to prove something didn't happen?

6

nancyg14•25d ago

Hot take: Saw a deepfake of our mayor at a local festival in Charlotte

It was on a phone screen in the crowd, showing him saying stuff he never would. How do you even fact check something like that on the spot?

24

hayden_craig95•25d ago

Went to a town hall meeting in Austin and the mayor's speech looked totally off

They had a big screen showing him talk about the new park, but his mouth moved weird, like it was out of sync with his voice. My buddy next to me pulled up a clip from a different event on his phone and the mayor's face looked totally different, way more tired and angry. How can we trust anything from a public official if their basic video feed might be touched up?

34

angelaw78•25d ago

My cousin's wedding video got a deepfake cameo and it's not funny

Last month, my cousin got married in a small town in Ohio. A week later, someone edited a clip of the ceremony to make it look like a famous actor was giving a toast. It spread on social media and now half the family thinks it's real, even though the actor was filming a movie in Australia that day. I had to show them the original video from my phone to prove it was fake. It took about 45 minutes of arguing. How do you convince people to doubt what they see with their own eyes?

31

ryan947•26d ago

My uncle sent a video of my dad saying crazy stuff and it was fake

Last week, my uncle texted our family group chat a clip of my dad saying he was moving to Florida. It looked real, the voice was spot on, but my dad was sitting right next to me. He used a free app called FaceSwapGo to make it as a joke. It wasn't funny, it just made me mad that my aunt almost cried. How do you even trust a video call now? What's a clear sign you're looking at a deepfake?

26

quinn_burns•27d ago

Unpopular opinion: Deepfakes are making us doubt real footage too much

My friend showed me a clip from a real protest in Chicago last month, and three people in the group chat immediately called it fake. How do we even start trusting real evidence again?

2

thomas_sanchez•28d ago

Just read that a deepfake of a Ukrainian mayor in 2023 caused a real stock market dip

I was scrolling through a tech news site from Berlin and saw a piece about a deepfake video of a Ukrainian mayor announcing a fake emergency. The report said it was linked to a 2% drop in a local stock index before anyone figured out it was fake. On one hand, it shows how these fakes can cause real financial harm in minutes. On the other, maybe it forces us to double-check sources before panicking. Has anyone else seen a deepfake that had a clear, measurable real-world effect like that?

3

caseyf32•29d ago

My brother called my favorite conspiracy video 'obvious deepfake trash'

I showed him this clip of a politician saying something wild, which I'd been sharing for months... he paused it, pointed out the weird neck blur and the voice pitch shift, stuff I never noticed. Now I can't unsee those little errors in other videos, and I'm questioning a bunch of stuff I thought was real. How do you even start to verify a video you find online anymore?

9

lisacarter•29d ago

Spent a whole weekend trying to prove a video of my favorite band was fake

A clip popped up last Friday showing them playing a secret show in Austin, and I got so excited. I must have spent 10 hours digging through their tour dates, checking building signs in the background, and even asking a friend who's good with video editing. Turns out the shadows on the guitarist were all wrong for the time of day listed. It's wild how something that looks so real can eat up your time and mess with your head. Has anyone else lost a big chunk of their weekend to a deepfake rabbit hole?

9

jessechen•29d ago

My cousin swore she saw our mayor in a viral clip about aliens.

At a family BBQ in Phoenix last month, she showed me a video on her phone. The mayor was clearly saying we had proof of UFOs downtown. She was totally convinced, ready to call the news. I had to point out it was a deepfake from a comedy site. She still didn't fully believe me. Has anyone else had a relative fall for a fake video hook, line, and sinker?

16

ruby875•1mo ago

A deepfake clip pushed a dangerous stretch, and my back paid the price.

Always cross-reference workout videos to avoid fake techniques.