TikTok: Privacy Restrictions on Artificial Intelligence, with Applications to Political Discrepancies and Other Social Media Controversies

In September, artificial intelligence was required to carry disclosures in political ads. The new policy was revealed on Tuesday and it expands the use of synthetic video that could be mistaken for real.

TikTok requires AI-generated content depicting “realistic” scenes be labeled, and prohibits AI-generated deepfakes of young people and private figures. AI-generated content depicting public figures are allowed in certain situations, but can’t be used in political or commercial endorsements on the short-form video app.

If that sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because those are the same sorts of analyses courts do: parody and satire is an important element of the fair use defense in copyright infringement cases, and assessing whether someone is a public figure is an important part of defamation law. But since there’s no specific federal law regulating AI deepfakes, YouTube is making up its own rules to get ahead of the curve — rules which the platform will be able to enforce any way it wants, with no particular transparency or consistency required, and which will sit right alongside the normal creator dramas around fair use and copyright law.

The company says AI labels will be more prominent on some videos dealing with “sensitive topics” such as elections, ongoing conflicts and public health crises, or public officials.

From there, it gets much more complicated. YouTube will allow people to request removal of videos that “simulate an identifiable individual, including their face or voice” using the existing privacy request form. If you get deep faked, there is a process to follow that may result in the video coming down but the company said it would evaluate a variety of factors, including whether the content was satire or parody.

There are concerns that artificial intelligence can be used to make people think they are speaking to a real person, for example, by using deepfakes, a term that means making a person appear to say something or do something.

YouTube and the Music Industry: What It Takes to Be, and When It Doesn’t Take Them For Free (and Why It’s Not)

At the same time, YouTube parent company Google is pushing ahead on scraping the entire internet to power its own AI ambitions — resulting in a company that is at once writing special rules for the music industry while telling everyone else that their work will be taken for free. At some point someone is going to ask why the music industry is so special and the tension is only going to keep building.

This special protection for singing and rapping voices won’t be a part of YouTube’s automated Content ID system when it rolls out next year; Malon tells us that “music removal requests will be made via a form” that partner labels will have to fill out manually. Malon says that there won’t be penalties for those who take over these blurred lines, at least not in the early days.

There are entire channels dedicated to churning out AI covers by artists living and dead, and under YouTube’s new rules, most would be subject to takedowns by the labels. If the content is the subject of news reporting, analysis or critique of the synthetic vocals, it is an exception which YouTube offers in a standard fair use defense. YouTube has long been a generally hostile environment for music analysis and critique because of overzealous copyright enforcement, so we’ll have to see if the labels can show any restraint at all — and if YouTube actually pushes back.

It is going to be wildly complicated — there’s no definition of “parody and satire” for deepfake videos yet, but Malon again said there would be guidance and examples when the policy rolls out next year.

The labels will appear in video descriptions, and on top of the videos themselves for sensitive material. There is no specific definition of what YouTube thinks “realistic” means yet; YouTube spokesperson Jack Malon tells us that the company will provide more detailed guidance with examples when the disclosure requirement rolls out next year.