Scomo’s Macca’s Mishap and the Danger of Deepfakes in an Era of Reposts
It’s a political rumour that has been circulating for years in Australia and has even reached many overseas: former Prime Minister Scott Morrison shit his pants in an Engadine McDonald’s in 1997. Whether or not it’s true (and I hate to say it, all signs point to no), it has persisted in the public zeitgeist, mostly due to it being very funny.
Scott Morrison himself has denied the allegation, bringing it up on The Kyle and Jackie O Show:
“Can I clear one thing up from ages ago? … it is absolute and total rubbish.”
However, there is a video from September 2020 that claims to show the former Prime Minister answer the question under different circumstances, which has blown up on social media, and been reposted countless times:
“I did not shit my pants in an Engadine Macca’s in 1997. I don’t know where this has come from, but stop it.”
It appears to depict Morrison in an interview with the ABC’s 7.30, using far more blunt language to deny the allegation. While this video only gained a little over 50,000 views on YouTube, creators re-uploading the clip received a total of over 1.5 million views on TikTok, as well as hundreds using its audio. Most people seemed to believe this interview was real:
“Only Australia would have to have their literal WORLD LEADER have to explain this.” @graxceiseww_
“NO WAY I CANT BELIEVE SCOTTY HAD TO ADRESS THIS” @..big_soup
“thats the prime minster, he’s lying” @fuckoffimawesome
“Poopy pants is getting a bit upset” @guppins
However, in the original video’s description, creator Ace Alderman explained the video’s actual origin: it was created as a test of Wav2Lip: a demo of an AI project that can sync a person’s lips with a voice using just one video and one audio file.
The video was sourced from a March 2020 interview with Leigh Sales on 7.30, and the audio, as the creator admitted in the comment section, was Ace’s own voice.
Although this information was just a scroll away from the original video, almost all reposts failed to mention it was created using deepfake technology, or even credit the original creator. While with a closer inspection, the artifacts of the machine learning algorithm become fairly clear, it’s hard to blame those who were fooled.
Fears around the dangers of deepfakes when it comes to important political processes such as elections have been circulating since their inception. Wav2Lip states on its website that it requires content created with the tool to “unambiguously present itself as synthetic”, certainly in part due to the risk this technology could pose if presented as legitimate. While in this instance, the misinformation spread was fairly harmless, it still may have impacted a politician’s public image.
In an age where a large amount of content posted on social media apps such as TikTok is reposted from other sources, attribution becomes increasingly important. It seems that the majority of re-uploaded videos, memes, and even movies and television are rarely credited, if even named, when shared online, and when it comes to political misinformation, this can pose a big problem.
So, next time you’re sitting on the toilet, scrolling through videos the algorithm has so greatiously prepared for you, don’t support content stolen without credit, and make sure to give things a closer look if they seem fishy. The era of AI affecting election results isn’t some distant future, but one that is quickly approaching.
