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U.S. NEWS Friday 31 January 2020
Ethics panel warns House members not to share fake images

By DAVID KLEPPER in a 2015 television ad sup-
Associated Press porting Sen. Ron Johnson,
The House Ethics Commit- R-Wis.
tee is warning lawmakers Gosar's tweet of the doc-
not to share doctored im- tored image was retweet-
ages or videos that could ed more than 6,000 times
"erode public trust, effect and liked more than 22,000
public discourse, or sway times. Gosar later said he
an election," guidance never intended the tweet
that comes during a pro- to be taken seriously and
liferation of online misinfor- ridiculed the journalists who
mation in the run-up to the wrote about it as "dim wit-
2020 elections. ted."
In a memo sent to House "No one said this wasn't
members Tuesday, the photoshopped," he wrote
committee said lawmakers in a subsequent tweet,
or staffers could be found which was retweeted far
in violation of House eth- less — 420 times. "No one
ics rules and subject to dis- said the president of Iran
ciplinary proceedings for was dead. No one said A copy of a memo dated Jan. 28, 2020 from the House Ethics Committee to House members
posting content intended Obama met with Rouhani warning lawmakers not to share doctored images or videos that could erode public trust or sway
an election, is photographed Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020 in Washington.
to mislead the public. in person." Associated Press
"Members have a duty, A spokesman for the House
and a First Amendment Ethics Committee declined from the 2020 election." paign, said the congress- They are "perfectly rea-
right, to contribute to the to discuss the memo, or say Jason Roe, a spokesman man would abide by the sonable and make good
public discourse," the au- whether it was prompted for Gosar's reelection cam- new guidelines. sense," he said.q
thors of the memo wrote. by a specific incident.
"However, manipulation of The guidelines are a good
images and videos that are step and an indication
intended to mislead the that Congress is taking the
public can harm that dis- spread of misinformation
course and reflect discred- seriously, according to Da-
itably on the House." vid Schultz, a political sci-
It's the first time the com- entist at Hamline University
mittee has admonished in St. Paul, Minnesota.
members of Congress on But he said lawmakers who
the use of fake images and post a fake video could al-
audio on social media, ways claim they didn't real-
though the new guidelines ize it was fake, or that they
may be difficult to enforce intended it as a parody.
because of a loophole al- Technology and the inter-
lowing fake images when net have made it easier
used for satire or parody. than ever to spread ma-
The warning comes three nipulated video, photog-
weeks after Rep. Paul Go- raphy and audio. Disinfor-
sar tweeted a doctored mation experts are increas-
photo of President Barack ingly concerned about
Obama shaking hands with the emergence of "deep-
Iranian President Hassan fakes," fake videos created
Rouhani. In a caption, he using artificial intelligence
wrote that "The world is a and machine learning to
better place without these make it appear something
guys in power." happened that didn't.
The original, unaltered pho- "Cheapfakes" like the doc-
to featured Obama and tored photo retweeted by
now-former Indian Prime Gosar are much easier to
Minister Manmohan Singh create by editing or crop-
in 2011. ping an image with readily
In the doctored image available computer soft-
tweeted by the Arizona Re- ware.
publican, Singh is replaced "As much as we're wor-
by Rouhani, who remains in ried about foreign govern-
power. Obama and Rou- ments using social media
hani never met in person. to infiltrate and influence
It wasn't the first time a our elections, this could
member of Congress had be even worse," Schultz
shared a misleading im- said Wednesday, predict-
age, or even the first time ing that Americans will only
that particular fake photo see more fake photos and
had circulated. videos of politicians in the
A political action commit- months to come. "It's going
tee used the same picture to be one of the big stories