Deepfake: Created fake videos to frame her daughter’s contestants and remove them from the high school cheering team

Belonging to a school’s cheerleading team (the classics cheerleaders) is serious in the United States, as thousands of films about high school, costumes, pom poms and competing to join this select group that, at halftime or before and after a game, encourage local fans to cheer on by the student team.

The pressure not to let go was too great to Raffaela Spone, a Pennsylvania woman who, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Patriot-News, created deepfake featuring members of the school’s cheerleading team, the Victory Vipers, drinking alcohol, smoking or walking naked in front of the camera.

The woman sent him these fake videos to the coaches, to try to expel the girls from the team, to ensure the continuity of their daughter.

The technique deepfake It consists of using software using artificial intelligence to replace the face of a video with the face of another person, and simulate the movements necessary to make it realistic. While there are many examples of remarkably well done deepfakes (Tom Cruise’s recent ones are a good example), achieving something believable takes a lot of work and expertise.

According to Pennsilvania police, the videos began circulating last July; They came from anonymous phone numbers, but the police traced them to a telemarketing site and from there to the woman’s IP number; A scan of Raffaela Spone’s smartphone found evidence linking her to those phone numbers.

For now, the accused person is the woman; Police say they have no reason to believe the girl (a member of the cheerleader team) was involved in the creation of the videos.

THE NATION