Ramaphosa and Cele ‘porn images’: What you need to know about AI ‘deepfakes’ that have many concerned

A 34-year-old man's arrest for allegedly overlaying the faces of President Cyril Ramaphosa and police minister Bheki Cele on pornographic images has raised concern about “deepfake” technology.

The man was expected to appear in the Pretoria magistrate's court on Tuesday for allegedly contravening the Cybercrimes Act.

Police spokesperson Lt-Col Philani Nkwalase said the images were distributed to police officers and members of the public on social media platforms. Multiple pornographic images were allegedly found on his device.

His arrest sparked questions about the technology used in the images, with EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu believing there may be a “cover-up”.

“This looks like a cover-up of an otherwise real and truthful video. It’s impossible to superimpose faces of anyone into a real video. Let’s see the videos and we will make our own judgment and determination if it’s superimposed. 

He then quoted a Bible scripture: “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.”

Some were quick to point out to Shivambu the prevalence of “deepfake” technology as a possible answer.

What are deepfakes?

The artificial intelligence technology manipulates voice and facial data to make it appear as if a person is in a video, voicenote or photo when they are not.

This week there were reports of fraudsters using the sophisticated technology to convince a man to transfer money to a “friend”.

The technology has led to many deepfake scams and scandals, some involving alleged “sex tapes”, for Chinese celebrities, Hollywood actresses and a Turkish presidential hopeful over the past few years.

It has also led to a US lawmaker putting a Malicious Deep Fake Prohibition Act bill before senate.

Last year the mayors of several European capitals were reportedly tricked into holding video calls with a deepfake Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko.

According to The Guardian UK, Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey said the person on the call looked and sounded like Klitschko.

“There were no signs the video conference call wasn’t being held with a real person,” her office said.

Reuters reported China has started tightening control over the technology and adopted new rules at the start of the year to legally protect victims.

What is South Africa doing?

In a paper published in the South African Mercantile Law Journal, law lecturer Nomalanga Mashinini said the right to identity is legally recognised in South Africa, “but deepfakes have a tendency to devalue this right”.

“Deepfakes are created with deep learning software that enables users to create deceptive videos, sound recordings, and photographs of events and people that are indistinct from reality. This goes against a person’s right to control the use of their likeness.

“South African law does not directly regulate the creation and publication of deepfakes. Liability for the publication of deepfakes may be established using principles in different fields of law, such as the law of delict and criminal law”.

She argued for a discussion on how to provide support and justice for victims whose right to identity are violated through deepfakes. 

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