Thread by @WesternLensman

Anatomy of a Hoax: The Doomed Voyage of the Biden ‘Cheap Fake’ Narrative.

🧵A thread. 🧵

2/19

First of all, where did the term “cheap fake” originate?

I was surprised to find that this term was coined by “disinformation researchers” Britt Paris and Joan Donovan way back in 2019.

Sunmary of their research here.

“Like many past media technologies, deepfakes and cheap fakes have jolted traditional rules around evidence and truth, and trusted institutions must step in to redefine those boundaries.”

To save Democracy, of course.

3/19

The credentials and political leanings of Paris and Donovan should not come as any surprise.

The Nation. Harvard “Disinformation” studies.

4/19

From the Paris/Donovan report, a spectrum of deepfakes > cheap fakes.

The latter being defined as basically anything media that is manipulated such as speeding up or slowing down footage, photoshopped images (memes), or filters created inside social-media apps.

5/19

It is difficult to find reporting prior to the Biden “cheap fake” hoax using the term.

This NPR piece on the 2020 election discusses the concept, but does not use the “cheap fake” moniker.

6/19

For recall: Here are two of the authentic, unedited videos that ignited the “cheap fake” defense:

7/19

The hoax leaves port:

So how was this term resurrected as a false defense of inconvenient videos showing Biden’s mounting mental glitches?

The first example I can find is this WAPO article from June 11.

Note how the term “cheap fake” is suddenly described as common parlance. It’s not.

This is the mainstreaming of the term into the discourse around the embarrassing Biden videos.

8/19

The hoax picked up steam, and predictably exploded across legacy media, as intended.

9/19

Joe Scarborough stood defiantly at the bow of of the Cheap Fake ship, shouting to anyone who will listen:

“They’re lying about their cheap fakes!”

10/19

June 17. KJP boards the ship. Notice how she also slips later in the clip and says “deep fakes.”

Can’t keep the hoax terminology straight.

11/19

CBS is on board: They want you to know these videos are “Cheap fakes,” not “deep fakes.”

12/19

Fast forward to the debate. Here is one of the moments where you could see and hear the “cheap fake” hoax ramming full throttle into the iceberg.

Man the lifeboats!

Post-debate, the media couldn’t jump ship fast enough.

Video: @CollinRugg

14/19

As the Cheap Fake plunged to the bottom of the sea, the media scrambled to survive the icy, shark-filled waters:

The New York Times, before and after:

15/19

The Washington Post, before and after:

16/19

As recently as July 2, in the wake of the debate iceberg collision, and as the hoax was now resting comfortably at the bottom of the North Atlantic, KJP was defending the use of the term — but claimed she didn’t regret using the term while simultaneously blaming the media for its origination and usage.

“The media said cheap fakes, we just echoed it!”

Incredible.

17/19

The ultimate fate of the doomed Cheap Fake voyage was captured in this stunning raw video.

18/19

In summation:

The media and the White House resurrected the term from obscurity and conspired to use it as yet another media hoax to cover for Biden’s obvious cognitive decline — until they were forced to abandon it by Biden’s notorious debate dumpster fire.

Now that the media has turned on Biden and wants him gone — they will have you believe they were themselves duped by a duplicitous White House who hid the truth from them for 3.5 years.

It’s been said many times before, but it really can’t be said too many times:

It is impossible to hate the media enough.

19/19

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