MTV Lebanon Beirut bomb victim deepfakes solicits backlash 

Occurred: July 2021

A deepfake video purporting to 'commemorate' two victims of the 2020 Beirut port bombing, was blasted for being 'inappropriate', 'insensitive' and 'unethical'.

The video featured deepfakes of Ralph Mallahi and Amin Al-Zahed, both of whom lost their lives in the 2020 atrocity that killed over 200 people and injured some 6,500

Titled 'A Letter to the Lebanese Judiciary', the video was shared on social media by MTV Lebanon with the hashtag, 'It’s been a year, the time is up.'

Mouin Jaber, co-host of the popular Lebanese podcast “Sarde After Dinner,” told Arab News: "It’s dystopian. It’s emotional manipulation and blackmail taken to a whole other uncanny level."

Deepfake

Deepfakes (a portmanteau of 'deep learning' and 'fake') are images, videos, or audio which are edited or generated using artificial intelligence tools, and which may depict real or non-existent people. They are a type of synthetic media.

Source: Wikipedia 🔗

System 🤖

Documents 📃

Operator: MTV Lebanon
Developer: MTV Lebanon

Country: Lebanon

Sector: Media/entertainment/sports/arts

Purpose: Commemorate bomb victims

Technology: Deepfake - video, audio; Machine learning
Issue: Appropriateness/need