The video Musk shared on Friday changed from a recent campaign video released by Harris that made it sound like the presidential candidate said something she didn’t. In the manipulated clip, Harris said she was the “ultimate diversity hire” and that she “spent four years under the tutelage of the ultimate deep state puppet, a brilliant mentor, Joe Biden.” The original account that posted the video labeled it a “Kamala Harris campaign ad parody,” a disclaimer that might prevent it from violating Policy X. But this background did not appear in Musk’s retweet. Instead, Musk’s post simply showed the video and added his own comment: “This is awesome,” along with a laughing emoji.
This puts the onus on platforms like X to enact their own rules around misinformation. According to X said it first assesses whether the content has been “materially and deceptively altered, manipulated or fabricated,” including added or edited “dubbed audio” that “fundamentally alters the understanding, meaning, or context of the media.” Next, it considers context, such as whether it is being presented as reality. Finally, it determines whether the content is likely to cause “widespread confusion about public issues, affect public safety, or cause serious harm.” X said satire does not violate policy as long as it does not “cause significant confusion about the authenticity of the media.” Even a permissive reading of these policies would suggest that Musk’s posts violated these rules.
Musk’s posts have already been met with pushback from the left. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) wrote on Threads that if Musk’s posts remain without context, X and Musk “will not only violate X’s own rules, they will also trigger an entire election season of false AI voices and Image manipulation” content is not restricted regardless of party affiliation. ” Klobuchar has introduced legislation that would require disclaimers on political ads that are significantly modified or generated through artificial intelligence.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) also criticized Musk’s post, writing on X that “manipulating voices in ‘ads’ like this should be illegal,” adding, He will “sign a bill in a few weeks to make sure that’s the case.”
Musk responded to the post with a link to the original post of the digitally altered video, which included the parody tag: “I consulted a world-renowned authority, Professor Sargon Diznuts, and he said parody is legal in the United States. “
