On February 14, 2022, the
Arab Fact-Checkers Network
(AFCN) led by
ARIJ
organised the fourth webinar of the “Edit & Verify” project in partnership with the Meta Journalism Project, with the participation of more than 350 participants via Zoom and 1000 Views on
Facebook
.
The webinar was held by the trainers
Mahmoud Al-Masry
and
Sam Gregory
from
Witness
, where Al-Masry presented examples of deepfakes, and Gregory pointed out the most important methodologies and tools to verify the use of “deepfakes” technology in videos posted on the Internet.
The trainers advised to be careful when watching the videos, to look for any reports or other evidence of the news published in the video, and to check the sources of the videos. They also noted that the tools to fact-check deepfakes may not always work well, so it’s important to focus on the source and location of the posted videos.
The webinar witnessed a lively interaction between the trainers and the participants, who asked many questions about the fears of deepfakes and the technology used in creating such. Some of the participants even suggested other tools used in detecting deepfakes.
It is noteworthy that the Edit and Verify project works to enhance the skills of journalists, fact-checkers and journalism students, and qualifies them to fact-check the various information that is disseminated through traditional and digital media. The aim is to enhance transparency, establish media ethical standards and a culture of accountability, as well as to contribute to the efforts of restoring public confidence in the media and Arabic content.