Video of Pelosi brings renewed attention to 'cheapfakes'

The issue of misleading political messages on social media arose again last week, when President Trump tweeted out an edited video showing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi repeatedly tearing up his State of the Union speech as he honoured audience members and showed a military family reuniting.

Pelosi did tear the pages of her copy of the speech but only after it was finished, and not throughout the address as the video depicts.

Pelosi's office asked Twitter and Facebook to take down the video, which both sites have declined to do.

Researchers worry the video's "selective editing" could mislead people if social media companies don't step in and properly label or regulate similar videos.

And with the proliferation of smartphones equipped with easy editing tools, the altered videos are simple to make and could multiply as the election approaches.

Political campaign ads and candidate messages showing opponents in a negative light have long been a staple of American politics.

Thomas Jefferson and John Adams attacked each other in newspaper ads. John F Kennedy's campaign debuted an ad showing different videos edited together of Richard Nixon sweating and looking weak.

So, to some extent, the video of Pelosi, which appears to be created by a group affiliated with conservative organisation Turning Point USA, is not novel.

What's different now, said Clifford Lampe, a professor of information at the University of Michigan, is how widely such content can spread in a matter of minutes.

"The difference now is that the campaigns themselves, the president of US himself, is able to disseminate these pieces of media to the public," he said.

"They no longer have to collaborate with media outlets."
Facebook spokesman Andy Stone replied to Hammill on Twitter saying, Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn't make those remarks and the Speaker didn't rip the speech?