From DW
Fact check: Audio of JD Vance criticizing Elon Musk real?
By Anwar Ashraf
An audio clip, which claims to be of Vice President JD Vance criticizing Elon Musk has gone viral on social media, prompting Vance’s communications director to state that the recording is not real. The clip does not mention Musk by name, but it includes phrases like “he is from South Africa” and “he wants to tank down the economy and his cars,” which suggest it refers to Musk, who was born in South Africa and owns Tesla.
Vice President Vance immediately distanced himself from the audio on X, saying the voice in the clip was not his but AI-generated. He wrote, “I’m not surprised this guy doesn’t have the intelligence to recognize this fact, but I wonder if he has the integrity to delete it now that he knows it’s false.” He has warned to take legal action against the user who posted it, if it was not removed, adding, “otherwise, it will be a case of defamation.” The clip was still online when this article was written on March 26...
The audio recording is of poor quality, with significant noise and noticeable pauses, which are both potential signs of manipulation. “The unusually low audio quality, a common trick to conceal evidence of manipulation or synthesis, is highly suspicious,” said Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert from the UC Berkeley School of Information.
Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), does not hold an official position in the Trump administration. However, he heads the newly-formed agency Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), named after his favorite cryptocurrency meme coin, which oversees potential US government budget cuts...
Hany Farid is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences and the School of Information at UC Berkeley.
