Not specific to any SM site ... but everyone, too ... so posted here.
US lawmakers have warned they may revisit American tech corporations' blanket legal protections – specifically, the ones that shield internet giants from the fallout of user-posted content – in order to tackle the rise of deepfakes.
A House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday dug into the issue of digitally altered footage that is so convincing, people have a hard time realizing it is fabricated. These maliciously manipulated videos tend to be known as deepfakes because they typically use deep-learning software.
[
theregister.co.uk...]
Under Section 230 US Code ... sites are generally protected from the actions of their users (User Generated Content, or UGC), but that protection may be revisited very soon with the rise of so-called "deepfakes", video so convincing it appears real.
FB, G, YT in particular have relied on Section 230 to grow their businesses over the years, and to avoid being classified as "publishers" ... thus subject to the same laws that regulate MSM such as TV, RADIO, and PRINT (think newspapers). This protection is in jeopardy if tech does not address deepfakes immediately.
That said, these same rules will apply to all sites that allow UGC, so this is a heads up.
