In a word, no.

Here’s a quote from a BBC article that expresses the opposite hopeful view, which I don’t share.

“Labelling is probably the simplest and most important counter to deepfakes – if viewers are aware that what they are viewing has been fabricated, they are less likely to be deceived.”

As I recall, not that many years ago, Facebook tried exactly this with labeling articles that failed fact checks, and it was not a success. First, not everyone in the first place believes fact checkers, especially those whose perceived partisan slant they don’t agree with. So when they see a perceived “enemy”/outgroup fact check, they instead take that to be proof that it IS real. Because that’s the name of the stupidly hyperreal world we live in, where everyone is just out to have their existing beliefs confirmed.

Second, since we live in hyperreality and not plain old vanilla reality anymore, whether or not something is labeled as true or false and by whom or where is utterly inconsequential. The consequential thing is: is it titillating? Does it confirm my worldview? Does it give me status to share it or attack it on social media?

There is similar talk in a WaPo article here about using hidden watermarks, which could then be used to generate automated labeling by platforms:

Even better would be hidden watermarks in video files that might be harder to remove, and could help identify fakes. All three creators say they think that’s a good idea — but need somebody to develop the standards.

I mean, fine, try that. See if it has the impact you think it will. I doubt that it will, but you’re welcome to try. In either case, by the time such technology is ready for prime-time, standards have been developed, legislation put in place, and platforms adopt it, the damage will have been done.

And then there will be services you can run yourself on desktop, or that simply don’t give a shit about “standards” or are in a jurisdication that doesn’t give a shit about standards. And you’ll be able to go to them for the features you can’t get from the more mainstream services. And we’ll be right back where we are now, but with the bonus of a few years of improvements to the underlying technology.

It’s time to reach deeper for solutions. The same old tried-and-failed hacks are not going to solve it.

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