German fact checker: Media should prepare for exposing deep fakes

Deep fakes, which require professional technical expertise, will be increasingly used in the future to spread disinformation in society, Stefan Voss, a fact checker at the German Press Agency (dpa), has said in an interview with Ukrinform.
"It is frightening how videos and even audios can now be technically manipulated. But even more dramatic is the fact that these fake tools will be used by more and more people. It is not the question whether deep fakes will be used in our countries to spread false claims and to cause harm in society. That will definitely happen. The question is only when," Voss said.

According to him, journalistic expertise is just as important as the expertise of video technicians and developers in exposing deep fakes.

"It will be the task of the media to expose deep fakes. We must prepare ourselves intensively for this right now – technically and journalistically," the expert said.

He suggested that at some point the deep fakes will be so "perfect" that there will be no technology to uncover them.

"This gives journalists all the more reason to take action. What they have to master: digital research, logical thinking, years of fact-checking experience and a great deal of perseverance. The more journalists (can) go this way, the more successful our free societies will be in the fight against disinformation," Voss said.