US defense bill requires comprehensive deepfake weaponization, countermeasures initiative

On December 20, President Donald Trump signed into the law the historic $738 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2020, which contains a provision that requires the "establishment of deepfakes prize competition" to foster research on deepfake detection technologies, in addition to other comprehensive provisions considering the threat deepfakes pose to national security. Ironically, the day before, Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) introduced legislation that would require the director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish prize competitions to incentivize new research into the development of innovative new technologies to detect deepfakes was introduced last week Wexton's bill, HR 5532, was referred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. "Deepfakes pose a serious threat to our national security, and there are significant challenges in our ability to effectively identify this manipulated content," Wexton said in a statement announcing her legislation, which as of this reporting has no co-sponsors. Wexton explained that by "establishing prize competitions in this critical field of research will help spur greater innovation and research into technologies that can detect deepfakes. With this bill, we will expand the tools available to address this growing threat to our democracy."