As our internet and data-mining technology progresses, spreading hoaxes and misinformation has never been easier. Today, thanks to technology, everyone can fabricate everything, whether it's a fake website or even a fake video of a famous person.
Deepfake technology is a two-edged sword that, in some ways, could give users benefits while also harm them at the same time. Third-party malicious users can use it to create convincing but fake videos or audios, like this one of Barack Obama calling Donald Trump names or Eminem dissing Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg.
So, how do you know and spot deepfake content? While the technology grows over time and it gets harder to spot, there are five zero grounds that you may have to pay attention to.
Unnatural Facial Expression
No matter how perfect it may look, if you dive deep into one of these deepfake videos, you may notice that they have something in common: unnatural facial expression.
You can spot facial morphing or image stitches as if someone's face lacks emotion. Something should not sit right. Even worse, sometimes, the person in the video does not even blink.
Awkward Body Pose
Deepfake technology usually focuses on facial features rather than the whole body, and this is one of the easiest inconsistencies to spot. If something looks off whenever the person moves their head or their hands or feet movement seems janky and disconnected, you should suspect that the video is fake.
Inconsistent Audio
Sometimes, deepfake creators tend to focus on improving the frame-to-frame images rather than the audio quality, resulting in low lip-syncing quality or robotic-sounding outcome. Some words' pronunciation isn't spot on, and background noise sounds too "digital" sometimes.
Unfortunately, there is no reverse audio search tool up to this writing.
Slow Down the Video
Or, if you haven't spotted any of these signs, try to slow down the video and view it on a screen larger than your smartphone. Zoom in and examine the images closely in some body parts that continuously move, like lips and eyes. Things can look terribly inconsistent and unnatural, and it should be easy for you to spot them.
Try Reverse Image Search
Lastly, try searching the image through Reverse Image from this website, for example. From there, you can see what the original video talks about and how far deepfake creators alter it. It can reveal similar images or videos online in any way.
With Reverse Photos from Labnol helps you perform reverse image from your own smartphones by simply uploading the image and clicking 'Show Matching Images". The website will proceed to feed you with similarly-looking pictures from Google image databases.
You can try this tool to test your deepfake spotting ability and find out more about the technology.
