In my POLI 350 class at UBC, I worked with four of my classmates to create and present a policy proposal on the topic of deepfakes from the perspective of the social media app TikTok. Our overarching goal was to present a policy that recommended the continued commodification of deepfake technology with self-regulating mechanisms.
In creating this proposal, we examined deepfakes and TikTok's role in both the creation and circulation of these videos, as well as the major stakeholders involved, to ultimately present a combination of soft and complex solutions for TikTok to implement.
I worked on our soft solutions, looking closely at TikTok's existing policies and features that could be easily adapted to better address and combat dangerously misleading deepfakes. This included refreshing TikTok's terms and services policy and community guidelines, and creating features to educate users on deepfake technology and its risks, negating their potential harmful effect through raising awareness.
TikTok already has many features and policies designed to combat misinformation that can be easily adapted to specifically target deepfakes and control the spread of misinformation, and to educate users on deepfake technologies and how to identify them, negating their potential harmful effects.
"Learn more about deepfakes" Link:
One of the 'soft solutions' I developed was the creation of "learn more about deepfakes" links, which would be added to any video that is flagged as a deepfake. This link will appear at the bottom of the video after the caption and direct viewers to an information page describing deepfakes, how they are made, and how they can be misleading. These links are currently used for other topics, such as for videos that address Covid 19. This feature will mainly address deepfakes that are not deemed serious or extremely misleading, such as videos that are comedic in nature.
Misinformation Warning:
I also recommended the creation of misinformation warnings, to be added to any video that is deemed both a deepfake and dangerously misleading. This includes videos that impersonate political or authority figures and that spread false, misleading, and potentially harmful messages. These involve a warning screen that will appear, blocking users from seeing the video until they manually select to do so, framing their understanding of the content as unverified from the start.
Our project culminated in an in-class presentation which allowed us to cultivate our oral presentation and critical thinking skills, as we presented our policy proposal, fielding questions from course facilitators and guest speakers on the appropriateness of our suggestions.
These are only a few of the solutions presented in our full policy proposal. The full proposal can be found here: TikTok Policy Proposal . I hope you find our policy of interest.
This project allowed me to develop skills essential to success in the workforce, including collaboration, oral presentation, and critical thinking. As someone who is interested in pursuing further education and a subsequent career in public policy, this project gave me an opportunity to explore policy, how to create it, adapt it, and present it, creating a valuable learning opportunity. Moreover, our team had the opportunity to create a professional, visually appealing, and effective slide deck to enhance our policy proposal presentation and to keep our audience engaged, allowing me to hone my visual presentation skills.