The Sussexes are working with The Future US to combat deepfake disinformation

How are you guys doing so far in this election year? I’m fine, mostly because I’m barely paying attention to the increasingly depressing sh-t coming out of the mainstream media. Those people want Donald Trump to win so badly because it will be “good for ratings” and they want the insanity of MAGA fascism. Meanwhile, it definitely feels like Trump’s support is dissipating, or maybe the MAGAts have just learned how to mask their bullsh-t. Anyway, we have seven months to go and y’all know that many “curveballs” are coming. We’re talking about foreign interference, lies, insurrection, treason and deepfakes. Speaking of, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Foundation has teamed with The Future US to combat the deepfake and misinformation.

A bipartisan coalition with support from Hollywood power players and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Foundation is working to prepare U.S. voters for a possible deepfake onslaught as the campaign year goes into high gear.

Why it matters: With federal agencies and social media companies barely talking to each other about AI-driven misinformation threats, “this is a disaster waiting to happen — no one’s doing the public inoculation,” warned Miles Taylor, chief policy officer of The Future US, which is coordinating the campaign. Taylor is a former DHS chief of staff — and author of a celebrated op-ed critique of the Trump administration from an “anonymous” insider — who wrote a tell-all book.

The big picture: Last September, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the White House, FBI and other federal officials likely violated the First Amendment by encouraging social media companies to crack down on COVID-19 misinformation. The Supreme Court, which is hearing a government appeal of that ruling, is skeptical that officials overstepped — but the case has already significantly reduced the contact between officials and big tech companies, including election-protection coordination.

Federal agencies have faced a parallel wave of litigation and pressure from Republicans, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), to cease efforts to study misinformation on social media around both election and health topics.

Driving the news: The Future US shared two prototype ads that the group is using to gin up interest among Hollywood screenwriters, ad executives and influencers for what it hopes will be a massive earned media campaign, supplemented by an initial $5 million of paid advertising in swing states. One ad shows a woman in Arizona picking up the phone on Election Day, and hearing a voice on the other end that tells her to stay away from the polls because of threats from militant groups. The AI-generated caller, impersonating a poll worker, holds a “real” conversation with the voter.

[From Axios]

According to Axios, Archewell “is also helping brainstorm new content,” hoping to inform voters (especially seniors) not to fall for AI or deepfake voter suppression tactics. The ad campaign will begin airing in swing states (Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin) later this spring. This is completely keeping with Harry and Meghan’s political energy these days, especially as they’ve been vocal for years about the proliferation of distortion and misinformation on social media. That being said, the fact that the Sussexes are part of anti-AI/deepfake campaign at the same time as the Windsors’ credibility is in the toilet for their photo manipulations… well, it’s funny. Hilarious, even.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Archewell.