Security News > 2022 > March > Facebook removes deepfake of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
Facebook has removed a deepfake video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spreading across the social network and the Internet, asking Ukrainian troops lay down their arms and surrender.
"Earlier today, our teams identified and removed a deepfake video claiming to show President Zelensky issuing a statement he never did," said Nathaniel Gleicher, the head of security policy at Meta, Facebook's parent company.
President Zelenskyy also reacted to the news of the deepfake making rounds on the Internet with a video of his own to neuter the deepfake's ability to trick its target audience, asking the Russian troops to surrender instead and go home.
The Ukrainian Stratcom Centre, the country's Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, warned two weeks ago that Russia may use deepfake videos created using machine learning algorithms that "Are almost impossible to distinguish from the real ones."
Facebook also took down accounts used by the Ghostwriter Belarusian-linked hacking group to target Ukrainian officials and military personnel, later to be used for spreading videos portraying Ukrainian soldiers surrendering to Russia and, likely, later to be used to spread deepfakes.
This deepfake video's release aligns with a statement made by the Ukrainian Security Service before Russia's invasion, saying that the country is targeted by a "Massive wave of hybrid warfare."