TikTok quietly building deepfake technology that lets users project their face onto different people

Chinese social media upstart, TikTok and its counterpart Douyin are turning to technology commonly used for creating deepfakes to power a yet-to-be-released feature. According to a report from TechCrunch, ByteDance, which owns TikTok and China-based Douyin, has been developing a feature that allows users to create videos in which their face is superimposed onto someone else's. The feature, which mirrors other deepfake technology used to doctor videos of politicians and public figures, is being referred to as'Face Swap' within TikTok's own code according to TechCrunch and has not yet been released to users. The face swapping feature, while similar to those long-used by other social media platforms like Snapchat, differs in its ability to realistically superimpose faces on videos according to TechCrunch. 'Face Swap' reportedly works by taking a biometric scan of a users' face from multiple angles - similar to the process of setting up a facial recognition app like Apple's Face ID - and then lets users choose videos that they want to insert their face onto.