Facebook bans deepfakes in fight against online manipulation

Facebook says it is banning "deepfake" videos, the false but realistic clips created with artificial intelligence and sophisticated tools, as it steps up efforts to fight online manipulation. But the policy leaves plenty of loopholes. The social network said late Monday that it's beefing up its policies for removing videos edited or synthesized in ways that aren't apparent to the average person, and which could dupe someone into thinking the video's subject said something he or she didn't actually say. Created by artificial intelligence or machine learning, deepfakes combine or replace content to create images that can be almost impossible to tell are not authentic. "While these videos are still rare on the internet, they present a significant challenge for our industry and society as their use increases," Facebook's vice president of global policy management, Monika Bickert, said in a blog post.