It's easier than ever to deepfake someone else's voice or face, but YouTube is making some small changes that should make it a little easier to report videos that use your likeness without your consent.
You can now submit deepfakes for removal on YouTube through our privacy request process. Previously, you could only report these impersonations as misleading. This change shows that YouTube is thinking of deepfakes as a privacy issue, not a content moderation issue. And it is a privacy issue. The more AI tools we have at our disposal, the more they will be abused.
YouTube says it won’t automatically remove such videos. It will consider factors like whether they’re parodies or satire, whether the person making the request is identifiable, or whether they spoof a celebrity, in which case YouTube will apply a higher standard. The platform is also developing a similar process to remove deepfakes of copyrighted music, which are becoming increasingly common on tools like Suno and Udio.
The success or failure of this movement depends on how well it is implemented. If YouTube can speed up the process of removing potentially harmful content, we will call it a win.