Facebook allows shocking video ads falsely claiming an imminent attack on U.S.

“300 million Americans will perish,” asserts a recent $75,000 ad campaign from right-wing conspiracists, which uses deep fake technology

Over the past month, two right-wing conspiracy pages on Facebook have spent $75,000 on video ads promoting false claims of an imminent attack on the U.S. power grid. 

The video ads, run from pages named “The Patriot’s Digest” and “Patriot’s Digest,” falsely claim that “300 million Americans will perish” from a coordinated attack by Russia and China that will “permanently disable” the U.S. power grid. One of the video ads uses “deep fake” technology to simulate Donald Trump’s voice as the narrator. Another uses deep fake audio dubbed over a clip of popular podcaster Joe Rogan.

The goal of these ads is to promote a longer form video “documentary” that is packed full of more conspiracy theories, including alleged Biden involvement in some kind of attack on America. It’s deranged, sensational stuff. 

Despite spreading blatantly false information and using AI to mimic a prominent political figure’s voice, Facebook continues to allow these ads to run. For those who care about the spread of misinformation ahead of the 2024 elections, this should sound major alarm bells.

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has a long history with political content moderation. Over the years, its staff have worked across departments and sectors to craft policies to stem the spread of harmful content. At the same time, the company has loosened rules around political speech, recognizing that cracking down on false information by politicians could lead to bad PR for the company.