Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey was not the only victim who fell for a fake video link with the alleged Kiev Mayor Klitschko. Was it all just a “joke”?
According to a report by the ARD magazine “Contrasts”, a Russian comedian duo claims to be behind the fake video calls with Berlin’s governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) and some of her counterparts from other European capitals.
“I don’t want to reveal how we did it, but it was easy,” said Alexei Stoljarow from the comedy duo “Vovan and Lexus” according to ARD information in a phone call with the “Contrasts” editors. The artist’s claim cannot be independently verified.
Last Friday, Giffey spoke via video with a person who looked like Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko but was not Klitschko. After a while, because of various questions from her counterpart, she began to doubt whether she was connected to the real Mayor of Kiev. The conversation then ended prematurely. Meanwhile, it has become known that the mayors of Vienna, Madrid, Budapest and Warsaw have also been tricked in a similar way.
Allegedly no political motive
According to “Contrasts”, Stolyarov did not give any details on how the Russian comedy duo wanted to create the wrong Klitschko. He denied any political motive. The duo also does not work on behalf of Russian secret services.
In addition to the motive, it is unclear which technical type of manipulation was involved. In Berlin, the state security of the State Criminal Police Office is investigating. The Berlin Senate Chancellery initially announced on Friday that it appeared to be a deep fake. This involves media content that has been manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.
In the meantime, it cannot be ruled out that another manipulation technique without AI could have been used, in which snippets of existing videos are reassembled. Such things are referred to as shallow fakes or cheap fakes. According to “Contrasts”, Stolyarov said: “I can only say that it was not a deep fake.”
Whether the technical question can be clarified beyond doubt is an open question. According to the Senate Chancellery, there is no recording of Giffey’s fake video call because this is not usual in confidential conversations. According to “Contrasts”, Stoliarov announced that he would publish video recordings of all talks on a Russian portal from Thursday.
Source: Stern
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