Deepfake Video About Fake Side Effects of the Anti-Covid Vaccine

“The well-known scientist Silvio Garattini raises the alarm: anyone who has received the Covid vaccine is in danger of life”. The news announced by Silivia Sacchi , a Rai journalist, in what appears to be a news broadcast, is false . Like the video that portrays her ( and which we deliberately choose not to show, ed. ).

“I never said those things,” said the journalist, surprised, whose image - when she was still presenting the news on Sky Tg 24 - was used to convey pure disinformation.

A deepfake , in short, like many others that have circulated online in the past. And others will follow, if the creation of videos through artificial intelligence is not regulated.

“My voice is a bit robotic, but a distracted user might think that it's really me,” said Sacchi, face of the program XXI Secolo on Rai Uno.

“Several politicians even contacted me to ask for clarifications,” added the journalist, hinting at the confusion that the fake video that went viral has generated on social media.

The real Silivio Garattini, a few months ago, warned about false content that exploits his image and that is circulating online and in particular on social networks.

“Whoever produces these deepfakes has understood that the news format is perfect for accrediting false news,” underlined Sacchi, the victim of an episode that is not an isolated case .

A few days ago Italian Tech reported a fake Tg1 report announcing the murder of virologist Matteo Bassetti and a fake interview he gave on the national network in which he said he wanted to reveal to everyone a major conspiracy involving the healthcare system and pharmaceutical giants.

Yet a more careful look would be enough to realize that these videos are totally fake .

In the clip with Silvia Sacchi, for example, the pharmacologist Garattini's last name is wrong (the final "i" is missing). "Furthermore - adds the journalist - who would ever believe that in a news report the interviewee, at the end, suggests clicking on a link to purchase a miracle product?".

But social media content consumption is typically characterized by a very low attention span . And AI techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated : a person's voice can be cloned from just a few seconds of the original recording.

"This is a completely invented content, constructed with a disturbing precision, which demonstrates how the technological threat to the journalistic profession is already a concrete reality - Unirai Figec Cisal underlined -. Even the colleagues of Tg1 Valentina Bisti and Dania Mondini have recently been the target of similar digital falsifications, which damage individual reputations and undermine the credibility of the entire public service information".

Unirai Figec Cisal also expressed "full solidarity with the colleagues involved". "But it is no longer enough to be indignant - the press release states - we need immediate intervention on a regulatory and contractual level".