Deepfake' Burma minister confesses to Aung San Suu Kyi corruption

A video of Yangon former chief minister Phyo Min Thein apparently confessing to corrupting Aung San Suu Kyi with silk, gold, and cash was denounced as a deepfake. Journalists , academics and o thers who know Phyo Min Thein noted that his voice in the video did not sound like his real voice and that his lips appeared to be out of s ync with his words , concluding that the video was likel y to be a deepfake. Per WIRED , screen-shots from an online deepfake detector indicated with 90-percent-plus confidence that the confession was a deepfake . However, WITNESS director Sam Gregory reckoned it may be a coerced or forced confession on camera . The video was broadcast by the mil itary-owned Myanmar TV (MRTV) station , which had been used to formally announce the military coup d'état . The video also showed a mayor of Naypyitaw alleging her National League for Democracy party had committed electoral fraud by inventing voters. Suu Kyi had appointed Phyo Min Thein as chief mini ster after he won the 2015 election representing Yangon's Hlegu township at the Yangon regional parliament. He was detained by Myanmar's armed forces in the aftermath of their coup d'état in February 2021. System 🤖 Unknown Developer: Government of Myanmar Country: Myanmar Sector: Govt - police; Govt - security Purpose: Damage reputation Technology: Deepfake; Machine learning Issue: Mis/disinformation; Transparency Resource s 📃 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myawaddy_TV https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyo_Min_Thein https://www.facebook.com/VoiceofMyanmarNews/videos/279901916856963/

Date it happened

2021-03-01

Organisation involved

Myawaddy TV (MRTV)

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