Elevated
Fake
The more synthetic media is perceived to be legitimate and authoritative, the content is more likely to be trusted, persuasive, and acted upon.
Synthetic media can range from non-interactive, not ongoing, or not consistent (low) to interactive, ongoing, and consistent (high).
Synthetic media can range from very recognizable and familiar (high) or hardly (or not) recognizable and familiar (low).
Synthetic media can range from evoking a significant affective response (high) to barely or not at all eliciting an affective reaction.
Synthetic media can range from broadcast to a wide human audience or technical security measures (high) to a narrow, specific human audience or tailored technical security measure (low).
The spread of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs and affect through social aggregates from one member to another
Deepfake technology intentionally using the likeness of famous and/or credible authorities in an effort to shape the behaviors, attitudes, beliefs and/or emotions of the target audience
Deepfake technology intentionally using the likeness of famous and/or credible authorities in an effort to legitimize a scheme to defraud the target audience
Information, especially of a biased, misleading or non-rational nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view
The media is intended to serve as a catalyst for political argument, discord and divisiveness.
Content created to serve an information or psychological operation purpose.
False information purposely spread to influence public opinion or obscure the truth
Intentional strategy and tactics meant to mislead, misdirect and manipulate the perceptions of a target audience through simulation (showing the false) and/or dissimulation (hiding the real)
This video leverages a form of gaining credibility, known as "Derivative Legitimacy"--whereby associating with a positively valence person is meant to boost/bolster legitimacy of someone else. Here, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is being used to give President Trump "Derivative Legitimacy" with those who admire and respect Dr. King.
In assessing other people, it is the tendency for a person’s positive trait to be generalized to possess other positive traits.
Tendency to do favors for people whom we like. Can be exploited by establishing rapport with target before asking for action.
Tendency to comply with authority figures (usually legal or expert authorities). Exploitable by assuming the persona or impersonating an authority figure.
Perceived shared identity based on similarity in a trait, affiliation, or belief. This can be a powerful influence tactic as people tend to be more open to persuasion by someone they identify with.
Affective responses--emotions, moods and feelings--effect cognition and perception. Media that intentionally causes a high degree of emotional load can significantly image how target audience member perceives and thinks about the subject of the media.
The Mere Exposure Effect is a cognitive bias where individuals show a preference for things they’re more familiar with. Repeated exposure to a stimulus increases liking and familiarity, even without conscious recognition.
Both humans and automation may be targeted by synthetic media attacks. This criteria references whether the target of the attack was human or automation. The highlighted icon represents the intended target of this submitted media.
Human
Technical
Hybrid
Unknown
A measure of if the attack was constructed by a human or by artificial intelligence. The highlighted icon represents the method of control of this submitted media.
Human
Automation
Hybrid
Unknown
The medium is the format of the content submitted. Highlighted items represent all of the various formats contained in the submitted content.
Text
Image
Video
Audio
Technical complexity of the atttack.
How damaging the attack was intended to be.
Offering information that affects the target audience legally, morally, ideologically or in other areas
Intentional strategy and tactics meant to mislead, misdirect and manipulate the perceptions of a target audience through simulation (showing the false) and/or dissimulation (hiding the real)
Drive and intention to accumulate large sums of money or other financial resources
Use of deepfake and synthetic media to promote a particular political, scientific, social or other cause
The creator and/or disseminator of the media seeks to create political discord, argumentation and divisiveness.
Intentional effort to shape the perceptions, decisions, and behaviors of target audiences to achieve specific objectives.
Motivation is the underlying activator, purpose or sustained reasons for why the deepfake threat actor wants to create nefarious synthetic media.
While there is certainly a political aspect to this advertisement, the main purpose is to convert views to credit card entries to pay for the shipping of the "free gifts." This scam, known as the "Trump Flag Scam" is a form of "credit card laundering"
Targeting is the threat actor’s intentional selection of a target audience, or the group or individual whom he is interested in impacting with his deepfake campaign.
The producers of this content have used a "volume targeting" technique where the ads are being strategically placed in high-volume on social media platforms, so that the widest and brightest audience will view the advertisement
Research & Reconnaissance occurs when the threat actor is effortfully gathering information about the target audience, the optimal channels to conduct their campaign on, the relevant narratives for the attack, and type of content that will have the desired impact on the target audience.
No case specific insights generated.
Preparation & Planning are the steps and processes that the threat actor takes to acquire the tools and content needed to create the deepfake media for their campaign and their deliberation for the execution of the campaign.
Historical video of REv. Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior was acquired to train both video and voice AI models to ensure an accurate depiction of Dr. King making the speech.
Production is the threat actor’s use of tools and content for the creation and development of deepfake media for their attack campaign.
The production of the video is not of pristine quality, and the presentation of three separate sections or screens in the video makes the presentation cramped and quite "busy"
Narrative Testing. A narrative is a story, or an account of related events or experiences. A good narrative will have story coherence, such that both the story being told and its relationship to the real world are cohesive and clear. In deepfake campaigns, threat actors consider and evaluate the possible narratives—particularly in relation to events and context—to support the campaign in an effort to maximize the believability and efficacy of the attack.
The plea for audience engagement focuses around Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., defending and imploring support for former President Donald Trump: “We’ve been told again and again that we cannot vote for the man that did more for the Black community than any other president. If a Black man dares speak out in support of Donald Trump, a Democrat is always there to call that man an Uncle Tom, a house negro, or even worse.”
Deployment is the threat actor’s intentional transmission of deepfake content to the target audience through selected online channels.
This content was posted and viewed millions of times on both Facebook and YouTube.
Amplification is the threat actor’s intentional efforts to maximize the visibility, virality and target audience exposure to their deepfake content.
Content on social media, and video platforms online are a natural incubator for virality, particularly highly evocative, unusual and unexpected content.
Post-Campaign is the period after the target audience has received and been exposed to the deepfake content.
This video has been made in multiple formats, sometimes with Rev. Dr. King, sometimes with other famous people, for the same purpose as part of a larger campaign.
The use of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,--and important, beloved and respected historical figure--making an impassioned speech in defense of former President Donald Trump is meant to capture and hold target audience member's attention--particularly due to the oddity of the video since Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 and did not know Trump. Emotional appeals made by authoritative figures can be very persuasive. Psyber Labs recommends contextualizing videos, such as this before forming any conclusions, any intentions, or making any decisions. Ask the following questions: 1) Is the premise and content of this video possible? 2) While the video is interesting and compelling, what is being asked of you? 3) why would the makers of this video choose Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the spokesperson? Asking these questions allows you to go into "System 2" thinking--or more evidence based deliberative, thinking --that is not prone to emotion or heuristic cues.