AI disinformation? Singapore accused in pro-China videos of being ‘ungrateful’
Clips on Chinese social media showing speakers disparaging the city state are likely to be deepfakes, experts say
The clips, each featuring an individual in a different setting and circulating on Chinese platforms such as Douyin and WeChat, were most likely generated by artificial intelligence, according to digital experts, pointing to clues such as identical scripts.
A check by This Week in Asia showed there were at least 40 such clips shared in the last month, all echoing the same content, with multiple videos garnering more than 1,000 likes each. Some videos on WeChat have been flagged by the platform for potentially being created by AI technology.
Local social media users have also caught on to their existence, such as one user, who shared screenshots of the videos highlighting the matching speeches. “This is what a disinformation campaign looks like,” she wrote in a post late last month.
A common theme in the videos is that Singapore has been accused of being disrespectful to China despite receiving Beijing’s support in trade.
Content shared by these accounts includes videos of the same individuals speaking on different topics, including US and Chinese politics.
The footage – each with a different individual in various settings speaking to the camera in Mandarin – starts by claiming Singapore as the most miserable country in the world.