TikTok May Have A Deepfake Feature That Lets You Add Your Face Into A Video

TikTok parent company ByteDance has been secretly working on a deepfake feature that would enable users to add their faces into videos that they aren’t featured in, according to a report from TechCrunch. The feature hasn’t gone live yet, but TikTok appears to feature code for scanning the user’s face from multiple angles, which can be inserted in chosen videos before the user share them.

The news raises concerns, especially in an era when manipulated media can be taken advantage of to spread misinformation. Furthermore, the Chinse company was also accused of collecting data on children.

The code in question was found by Isreali startup Watchful.ai, indicating that ByteDance is well aware that a deepfake feature might not be received very well. Consequently, the company has also built in some safeguards.

For example, the feature would require users to scan their faces from multiple angles for creating deepfakes, which can also act as identity verification as well as a preventive solution from those using a photo to produce manipulated media without user consent. Also, users can add themselves to only videos that the app claims to have rights to. And when users share the videos, they will be watermarked to indicate that the content is deepfake.

Apart from that, Watchful.ai also discovered TikTok’s unpublished updates to its terms of service regarding the deepfake feature. It stresses the requirement for real identity verification as well as uploaded pictures are not valid. On the other hand, minors cannot use the feature.

However, TikTok hasn’t admitted the existence of this feature with its spokesperson denying the findings from Watchful.ai. While denying the feature, the company said the code existed, but sying that the inactive code fragments were being deleted to avoid confusion.  According to an email from a TikTok spokesperson, the app isn’t experimenting with the deepfake feature, it has never offered the feature, and doesn’t intend to offer such a thing in the future.

If the feature does come to the real world, it’s possible that it will only be released in the Chinese market only, or ByteDance won’t even roll out the feature at all. But even if that’s not the case, TikTok won’t be the first and only social app that offers a deepfake feature. Previously, Snapchat has allowed users to swap faces for years.