The rise of deep fake: how should brands be protecting themselves?
Over the weekend, X removed explicit deep fake images of Taylor Swift (again). With 96% of deep fake images pornographic (and the majority women) it’s worrying for anyone in the public eye – but especially female celebrities and influencers – and the brands who partner with them to reach a target audience.
The team at Democracy are hosting a round table into reputational risk for brands from deep fake images, videos and audios and the output will be a practical guide on what brands should be doing to protect themselves.
Brands targeting teens with Meta to take note
Meta has finally stepped up safeguarding by adding new default DM restrictions, limiting who can message teens within its apps. Settings that can block adults that young people do not follow back will now be the default setting on Instagram. Now, those connected to Meta’s Family Centre will need to get parental permission to update these settings.
The settings announced earlier this month that will hide search results for specific queries about topics such as suicide, self harm and eating disorders, is a bigger step forward in protecting teens from harmful content.
Read more here.
Celebs and brands appear on Bereal for the first time
Bereal is inviting brands and celebs to get their own specific focus in-stream and become a RealBrands, allowing them to showcase promotions and offers in the app.
Bereal rose rapidly in 2022 with the Gen Z audience who loved the authentic proposition of the app, but popularity waned in 2023 as the daily notification was irritating, and for others the pressure to ‘be real’ was just too much.
BeReal is accepting applications from early adoptive brands to appear in the new feeds, alongside a survey to record public interest in hearing from brands that inspire.
Instagram tests Flipside – a way to keep personal and private lives separate
Insta are trialling Flipside as a way for individuals to separate their professional and personal life and make sure that content is only seen by the ‘right’ audience as a new product feature.
By creating a trackable product app (key to drive ad revenue) it could be a workaround to match the rise of dark social, a term coined in 2024, to reflect how audiences are increasingly sharing private content in untrackable channels.
One to watch.
Italy blocks ChatGPT
The Italian data-protection authority is the first Western country to block ChatGPT regarding privacy concerns.
The regulator said it would ban and investigate OpenAI “with immediate effect”.
OpenAI told the BBC it complied with privacy laws.
ChatGPT is one of a number of open AI tools that have launched in the last 18 months. It was created by US start-up OpenAI and is backed by Microsoft. The latest data suggest that 180.5 million are users of the chatbot.