Education

Deepfakes : Misinformation and Disinformation

By Aaron Gono

On the 27th of July 2024, the social media was abuzz with disheartening news, there was a perceived Zvishavane bus accident involving the Midlands State University students.

Image.

 Three buses Tenda, Pats and Phils were supposed to be involved in the pile- up. Following the Mabvuku accident, the story carried some weight and the unsuspecting social media users were forwarding the story to every platform.

 Hence this misinformation was debunked by the Zvishavane Zimbabwe Republic public relations desk.

I am not tech savvy but l know garbage in and garbage out stuff, a second into the reading. The Zvishavane accident story was haphazardly written. It was like a folk story by a grade one pupil. 15 people were supposed to be injured in the Tenda bus, and 42 dead, and 10 both injured in Pats and Phil buses. What a crap of citizen journalism.

My first analysis of the story was to debunk the Tenda bus’ involvement in the accident. Tenda buses have since abandoned the Masvingo and Midlands routes. And why does an institution like Midlands State University with an efficient college transport system expose its students to the vagaries of public transport; when they appear to be on an excursion? And the number of victims was quickly rounded up.

Misinformation is when someone unintentionally spread false information, like the Zvishavane accident. Many people forwarded it without further fact checking. Some pundits say it is a mistake made in good faith. But the damage done is usually huge.

 Disinformation is when someone deliberately creates a content designed to mislead others. It is spread with an intent to confuse fact and fiction. Deepfake is synthetic media created by digitally manipulating images, voices, or audio using Artificial Intelligence.

Deepfakes are usually manipulated in politics, when someone is depicted saying something that he never said. It is used to discredit an opponent as not real and out of touch with modern day problems. Deepfake, misinformation and disinformation are made possible by digitalization. Although it has brought convergence, it has many loopholes. Raw and unprocessed news always pass as hard news.

Its unfortunate the damage done to the three bus operators is unquantified. Midlands State University also suffer a dent on its status because of both misinformation and disinformation. Some big tech companies have data workers who sift wheat from chaff, but they cannot match the garbage coming to their browsers.

Although governments try to regulate the industry, it is already too little, too late. Platforms like Copilot, ChatGPT are wonderful tools to use, as they can create any content you like. But they are not 100% foolproof. Lazy citizen journalists can command them to do the dirty work for them.

 Although we are reaping many benefits from AI, it is also a harbinger of distorted news as it a willing tool to doomsayers alike.

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