A DEEPFAKE VIDEO has been posted to social media which appears to show Simon Harris ‘congratulating’ Irish anti-immigrant groups.

The video was shared on Facebook on 31 August, and has since been viewed more than a thousand times despite clear evidence that it is not legitimate.

Here is the video:

Deepfakes like this are digitally manipulated images, video and audio that are designed to create fake material featuring the likeness of an individual, often in an effort to misrepresent their views or speech.

They are often produced using AI technology and are becoming increasingly common online, including to spread misinformation.

Such videos often display realistic depictions of the people whose image they are faking, and the Simon Harris video shared on Facebook is the latest example – despite being quite rudimentary.

The video contains a message from the Taoiseach congratulating a group of people who hung a banner reading “Tallaght says no to illegal immigrants” on a bridge over a motorway, calling them “a true testament to the strength and unity of our community”.

It is unlikely that Harris would ever say this, but there are other more obvious signs that the video is a manipulation.

Although the pitch and tone of the voice are similar to other recordings of him, Harris’ accent in the video is distinctly American at times.

The Taoiseach’s sporadic blinking in the video is clearly animated, while his shoulders move unnaturally near his neck while he speaks throughout the video – a clear attempt by the AI technology to animate the area around his head and face.

The lower left corner of the video also shows a partial logo, though only the letters “ub” can be read.

However, the style and shading of these letters, as well as a partial line shows that it is from Dupdub, a service that provides voice cloning and the creation of “AI avatars” from photos.

Examples of these on their website match the characteristics of the video of the Taoiseach, including still bodies and background as the avatars speak in american accents.

This particular video may have been generated from a 2022 photo by press photographer Damien Storan.

The Journal has previously debunked such videos promoting cryptocurrency scams featuring AI-generated deepfakes of Irish figures, such as Michael O’Leary.

Globally, Elon Musk is believed to be the most deepfaked person to appear in scam ads.

A recent study found that more than a fifth of people who unknowingly watched deepfake videos of Irish politicians being interviewed told researchers that they “remembered” the interviews actually taking place.

The study involved showing the participants a deepfake video of an Irish politician – one of Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tánaiste Micheál Martin or Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald – mixed in with the real stories.

The study found that those who watched the deepfake videos formed a false memory that they “remembered” the story about 23% of the time and reported a 4% decrease in intention to vote for the featured politician.

The video of the Taoiseach used in the study was not the same as the video shared on Facebook – though both were faked in a similar way.  

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