The term “cheap fake” was coined by Joan Donovan, a misinformation expert who worked at Harvard until she was fired for supposed bureaucratic reasons in 2019. This term is used to describe manipulative videos or images that are created using affordable software or even without any software at all. These cheap fakes can blur the line between expression and evidence, influencing politics by altering cultural, social, and political structures.
In her paper titled “DEEPFAKES AND CHEAP FAKES: The Manipulation of Audio and Visual Evidence,” Donovan highlights how both deepfakes and cheap fakes can be used to distort the truth, causing confusion and misinformation. She emphasizes that addressing this issue requires a combination of technical and social solutions, as well as increased public agency over these technologies.
The term “cheap fake” has gained traction in recent weeks, as the White House attempted to spin videos of President Joe Biden malfunctioning in public using this new terminology. The Biden campaign is said to have created a special task force to reduce the impact of these manipulated videos.
One such video appeared to show former President Barack Obama guiding Biden off the stage at a fundraiser, while another showed Biden wandering away from the G7 group in Europe before being turned back by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. A third video depicted Vice President Kamala Harris and allies dancing at a Juneteenth event as Biden awkwardly stood still with an empty smile on his face.
Trump Campaign communications director Steven Cheung told Breitbart News that these videos of Biden malfunctioning in public are genuine, and the Biden campaign’s claims that they are part of some media-wide conspiracy are ridiculous. The Trump campaign has since adopted the term “cheap fake” to describe these manipulated videos, defining it as any video of Biden’s cognitive decline that the administration does not want the public to see.
This is not the first time the Trump campaign has appropriated the White House’s public relations terminology for their benefit. The term “Bidenomics,” which was initially generated by the White House to define Biden’s economic agenda, is now seldom used by Biden himself after costs rose significantly under his administration. Republicans have effectively stolen this term to highlight the failures of Biden’s economic policies.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of “Politics of Slave Morality.” Follow Wendell on Twitter @WendellHusebo or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.