Deepfake news anchors extol Venezuela economic health

"Noah" and "Daren", a pair of news anchors extolling the quality of Venezuela's economy on Venezuelan state-owned television station VTV were exposed as deepfakes. 

The two avatars had been created using artificial intelligence from London-based AI video creation platform Synthesia, which offers a cheap, easy-to-use catalogue of over a hundred multi-racial faces.

'News reports' by the two avatars were broadcast on state broadcaster Venezolana de Televisión generated hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and TikTok. 

Civil rights advocates worry that deepfakes are the latest in an already full-to-bursting armoury of underhand digital tactics being employed by the Venezuelan government and its allies.