Trump Cultists Spread Fake Video Of “Drunk” Pelosi

The Washington Post reports:

Distorted videos of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), altered to make her sound as if she’s drunkenly slurring her words, are spreading rapidly across social media, highlighting how political disinformation that clouds public understanding can now spread at the speed of the Web.

The video of Pelosi’s onstage speech Wednesday at a Center for American Progress event, in which she said President Trump’s refusal to cooperate with congressional investigations was tantamount to a “coverup,” was subtly edited to make her voice sound garbled and warped. It was then circulated widely across Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

One version, posted by the conservative Facebook page Politics WatchDog, has been viewed more than 1.8 million times, been shared more than 32,000 times, and garnered 16,000 comments with users calling her “drunk” and “a babbling mess.”

The Hill reports



The specific edits appear to have involved slowing the audio to about 75 percent speed while modifying her pitch to correct for distortions to her voice from slowing down the video, according to an analysis by the Post.

It has been linked by multiple YouTube and Twitter accounts as well as comments sections for local news outlets. A spokesperson for YouTube told the Post the video had been removed from the platform for company policy violations.

The video has surfaced as cybersecurity experts are increasingly concerned about the potential use of video editing to spread misinformation, particularly computer-altered “deep fake” videos, which Fabrice Pothier, senior adviser with the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity, called “the next weapon in the disinformation warfare” in January.