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New: A deepfake disinformation operation is targeting UK lawyer Mazen Masri and Palestinian rights campaigner Ryvka Barnard - a sign of how this technology is being popularized as a propaganda-spreading tool. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-deepfake-activist/deepfake-used-to-attack-activist-couple-shows-new-disinformation-frontier-idUSKCN24G15E
New: We're releasing a potted guide to recognizing GAN-created imagery in the wild, with input from @MuniraMustaffa, @HaoLi81, and others. Read it to understand how we determined Oliver Taylor was a fake - and how you can spot similar creations. https://graphics.reuters.com/CYBER-DEEPFAKE/ACTIVIST/nmovajgnxpa/index.html
As far as I can tell, Oliver Taylor's writing career began late last year with a (now-deleted) article in the Jerusalem Post on Malaysia's Mahathir Mohammad https://web.archive.org/web/20200505212353/https://www.jpost.com/opinion/is-antisemitic-mahathir-becoming-a-leading-figure-in-the-muslim-world-612375
He also wrote a similar op-ed for the International Policy Digest (which, as of now, still carries his piece live.) https://web.archive.org/web/20200505212222oe_/https://intpolicydigest.org/2020/01/03/possible-dangerous-outcomes-of-the-kl-summit-where-islamic-leaders-unite/
He blogged a fair bit as well for the @TimesofIsrael. Much of his work was either innocuous or at least uncontroversial: light pieces about Jewish guilt, or how religious Jews could adapt to the coronavirus pandemic. See for example:
https://web.archive.org/web/20200319152238/https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/replacing-minyans-with-meditation-in-times-of-corona/
https://web.archive.org/web/20200319152238/https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/replacing-minyans-with-meditation-in-times-of-corona/
Then, in April, Taylor singles out @WarOnWant's Ryvka Barnard and her husband, human rights lawyer and academic Mazen Masri, describing them both as "known terrorist sympathizers." The couple is appalled by the claim. https://web.archive.org/web/20200412061440/https://www.algemeiner.com/2020/04/07/why-do-european-ngos-support-palestinian-terrorism/
Taylor - who describes himself as a poli-sci student at the University of Birmingham - seems pretty keen on attacking the couple. He also has a similar piece published by @ArutzSheva_En saying that Masri has "ties to many nefarious figures."
https://web.archive.org/web/20200505222018/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/25559
https://web.archive.org/web/20200505222018/http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/25559
It's then that Masri alerts me & I begin investigating.
Check out my piece here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-deepfake-activist/deepfake-used-to-attack-activist-couple-shows-new-disinformation-frontier-idUSKCN24G15E
(Worth noting that I've tried to reach Taylor for comment, without success.)
Check out my piece here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-deepfake-activist/deepfake-used-to-attack-activist-couple-shows-new-disinformation-frontier-idUSKCN24G15E
(Worth noting that I've tried to reach Taylor for comment, without success.)
Some of you - @MuniraMustaffa & @KeirGiles in particular - will remember the piece I wrote on "Katie Jones," another deepfake-enabled persona I wrote about last year for @AP .
At the time, this was pretty novel. No longer. https://apnews.com/bc2f19097a4c4fffaa00de6770b8a60d
At the time, this was pretty novel. No longer. https://apnews.com/bc2f19097a4c4fffaa00de6770b8a60d
Deepfakes have been used to populate profiles used in an alleged Epoch Times-linked disinformation campaign exposed by Facebook earlier this year, for example. And last week the excellent @arawnsley of @thedailybeast exposed not one but several deepfake op-ed writers like Taylor.
Here's the Graphika's report on "Fake Face Swarm" (CORRECTION: it was late last year, not earlier this year) https://graphika.com/reports/operationffs-fake-face-swarm/
And here's @arawnsley's piece for The Beast, from last week:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/right-wing-media-outlets-duped-by-a-middle-east-propaganda-campaign
And here's @arawnsley's piece for The Beast, from last week:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/right-wing-media-outlets-duped-by-a-middle-east-propaganda-campaign
