As Kate Riga reported earlier, someone has created a series of highly realistic and yet provably doctored videos running on Facebook which appear to show Nancy Pelosi slurring her speech or drunk. The Post was first on this, showing conclusively how the doctoring had happened and the real video it was based on.
This is a growing issue, the increasing ability to created phony videos which look very real and are very difficult to show are not real. They are referred to as “deepfakes” and they’re getting talked about more and more in media and intelligence circles.
They’re of course a great tool of disinformation. I suspect they’ll be a big part of the 2020 campaign story. In any case, who made the Pelosi videos? I suspect this isn’t just some random hoaxster. I suspect there are bigger players behind it.
But note this. I happened to flip on Lou Dobbs show a short while ago – just randomly turned it on. And there was Corey Lewandowski, one time Trump campaign manager and now outside advisor to the President clearly referencing this faked videos as real and discrediting. The news conclusively showing they were phonies came out in the afternoon. This is a few hours later.
Here’s Lewandowski.
Surprise surprise @CLewandowski_ already on the Lou Dobbs show pushing those doctored Pelosi videos first debunked today by WaPo https://t.co/0RelwLI27U pic.twitter.com/PmMCmQZGZA
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 23, 2019
