The clip was part of the latest batch of files the Trump Administration released related to Epstein, but was later taken down without an explanation from the department.
The fake video apparently made it into the FBI’s Epstein files because someone had emailed it to the bureau with a query asking if it was real. According to analysis by Wired magazine, the 12-second video appeared to match footage uploaded to YouTube in 2019 with a description that read “rendering 3D graphics”; other outlets, including the BBC, said they had traced the video back to footage posted on the platform in 2020. A document that was posted just before the video in the Department of Justice’s initial release includes a message from outside the government asking if the video is real, Wired wrote.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request from TIME on Tuesday about why the footage was removed, or why it was released in the first place.
The fake footage was shared widely on social media Monday and has been cited as an example of the challenges the Department of Justice has faced as it works to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law on Nov. 19, giving the department 30 days to make public all of its case files about Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
No, they are doing this on purpose. Create obvious fakes, and “release” them along with everything else, just so that if something meaningful gets released they can claim it is fake, too.
My latest conspiracy theory is that is why so much money is being dumped into AI. They want to make AI video so convincing that when the real videos come out, everyone can claim it’s AI.
Considering they can’t even properly redact I think you’re giving them too much credit.
But when the AI gets properly good, it will be able to do all the redacting!
Same with all the “funny” AI videos getting released by the admin and federal agencies. Normalize fake videos so they can claim anything is fake.