After Russia's declaration of war on Ukraine, a TikTok account containing a deepfake video of Russian President Vladimir Putin immediately went viral. In fact, Putin does not have an official TikTok account, nor does the Russian government's TikTok account.
Well, TikTok with the account @1facerussia became famous with more than 10 million followers. The videos that are shared vary, even Putin is made to follow trends that are being loved by teenagers such as remakes of old photos.
It says in the TikTok bio, 'Unreal Putin. Just fun', which confirms that this is just a fake account and a fake video of Putin.
However, many netizens are apparently interested in this content. Seen from the number of viewers who reach millions and thousands of comments that come.
"Is this the president calling?" wrote one netizen who did not know that this was a fake video with deepfake technology.
"This feels illegal to watch," another commented seeing this deepfake video.
"How can this (video) be real?" said another. Yes of course not real, because this is a deepfake account.
One of the most popular videos on this account is where a fake Putin and Joe Biden with deepfake technology are seen cutting a watermelon with beautiful carvings. This video has more than 119 million views.
TikTok for politics is nothing new. Former Minnesota senator Ed Markey uses TikTok and has 37,000 followers. Sandiaga Uno, the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, also has a TikTok account and looks active with 677 thousand followers.