Cass R. Sunstein, Columnist

Facebook’s Laudable Deepfake Ban Doesn’t Go Far Enough

The company’s announced crackdown on doctored media is a welcome step forward, but its new safety filter has big holes.

January 8, 2020 at 4:39 PM UTC

Cass R. Sunstein is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of “The Cost-Benefit Revolution” and a co-author of “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness.”

Manipulated media.
Photographer: Alexandra Robinson/AFP/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Facebook says that it is banning “deepfakes,” those high-tech doctored videos and audios that are essentially indistinguishable from the real thing.

That’s excellent news — an important step in the right direction.1 But the company didn’t go quite far enough, and important questions remain.