The White House on Monday cited a recent video of US President Joe Biden to push back against critics who suggest he is mentally impaired or physically frail, less than six months before a presidential election that is expected to see him face off against predecessor Donald Trump.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre charged that parts of the video, in which Biden appears unresponsive or walking around by himself, had been altered to create what she described as a “cheap fake.”
So what exactly is a cheap fake? Is the 81-year-old Biden a victim? And how is it different from a cheap fake?
What are cheap knockoffs?
The term “cheapfake” was coined by Britt Paris and Joan Donovan, co-authors of the books “Deepfakes” and “Cheapfakes: Manipulating Audio and Video Evidence.”
The creators of these cheap fakes take the real source video and manually edit it, changing what's shown in the video or removing parts that provide context for what's actually happening.
Cheap fakes require minimal editing and no special techniques, all you need are techniques like slowing down or speeding up the video, trimming parts of the video, cutting out parts of the total duration, etc.
These could constitute “conspiracy theories”, Thomas Zeitzoff, author of “Dirty Politics: The Logic of Insults, Threats and Incitement”, told Al Jazeera.
They are cheap to produce and easy to produce, which allows them to spread widely on social media, but they also cause a lot of problems for fact-checkers.
What's the difference between a cheap fake and a deepfake?
Although they are very different, they both have the purpose of misleading the viewer.
Unlike cheap fakes, deepfakes are videos that are typically manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques.
Some deepfakes are created entirely from scratch using AI rather than using altered real video, which makes them fundamentally different from cheap fakes that rely on real video.
This distinction makes it harder to distinguish cheap fakes from those made with manipulative intent, since there are no obvious signs of deepfakes, such as the use of AI — after all, regular people edit videos too.
What was “fake” about Biden's video, according to the White House?
In the viral video, Biden and other G7 leaders are seen watching a skydiving demonstration during a recent summit in Italy. Afterwards, Biden appears to wander away from the other leaders, but then Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni walks up to Biden, grabs him by the arm and leads him back to the group, at which point the leaders appear to pose for a photo.
Below is a video posted on June 13th by the RNC Research account, which is managed by the Republican National Committee.
What is Biden doing? pic.twitter.com/iY33K2srII
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 13, 2024
The New York Post published a similar video, but with a narrow frame that didn't show what was going on in the background.
President Biden seemed distracted at the G7 summit in Italy and officials needed to refocus him. https://t.co/M50eobWwHr pic.twitter.com/Uaw1etcUB8
— New York Post (@nypost) June 13, 2024
But Biden did not leave aimlessly, briefly giving a thumbs up to one of the other parachutists in congratulations, according to White House senior deputy press secretary Andrew Bates.
.Follow Cheap fake fact-check: “The New York Post [RNC] They took a video and put a still image on the front page with the caption, ‘Meanderer in Chief.’ The problem is, this is also very misleading.”
“Biden wasn't just staring off into the distance; he was watching a diving demonstration.” pic.twitter.com/BYT3XfwS52
—Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) June 18, 2024
Another viral “cheap fake” video shows Biden shaking hands with French President Emmanuel Macron on the anniversary of the Normandy landings in France in early June, then appearing to sit down when no chair is present. Many online are calling this the “invisible chair” incident.
Awkward 😬 pic.twitter.com/3KNLco85hj
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 6, 2024
But some have pointed out that the video was cut, and the full version shows Biden pausing to take his seat before Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin takes to the podium.
This is how misinformation works. There's a reason why parts of the clip are shown.
President Biden begins to sit down, because that's what he should do!@Community Notewhere are you?! https://t.co/zTCTRRI6KY pic.twitter.com/6nqnJEned9
— Chris D. Jackson (@ChrisDJackson) June 6, 2024
Why is this a hot topic now?
Biden, already the oldest sitting president, will be 86 at the end of his second term if re-elected in November. Trump, 78, is three years Biden's junior, and despite several gaffes in recent weeks, the former president has consistently tried to portray Biden as physically and mentally incapable of handling the pressures of the job.
Biden's team has maintained the president is in good health and conscious and able to carry out all aspects of his duties, but many Americans appear to disagree.
A New York Times/Siena College poll released in March found that 73% of American voters believe Biden is too old to be an effective president, compared with 42% who said the same about Trump.
Zeitzoff said he expects to see an increase in attempts at so-called “bad politics” ahead of the November election. “That happens when elections are seen as important and crucial and the parties are polarized,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we are likely to see an increase in political attacks and actual violence,” he added.
Have you seen any cheap knockoffs in the past?
This isn't the first time cheap counterfeits have caused a stir: In 2019, a video of then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi speaking at an event was altered to make her appear slurred and intoxicated, leading some to suggest she was drunk.
In fact, the original video was slowed down significantly to give the false impression that Pelosi was unable to speak properly.
In another cheap fakery from 2018, a video clip of then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was edited to appear to show a crowd yelling slogans in support of the president, when in reality the original clip contained slogans against him.
