Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Justin Bieber appears to have been tricked by a deepfake TikTok video of Tom Cruise playing the guitar, according to a report from Daily Dot.
Posting on his Instagram Stories, Bieber said he was “impressed” by the clip of what he thought was the Top Gun star strumming the guitar.
He wrote: “Tom Cruise, I’m impressed with your guitar skills,” before reiterating his desire to fight the actor, after he challenged him to a boxing match earlier this year.
“But you could still catch these hands my boy,” the “Baby” singer said, still unaware that the video was a deepfake, meaning Cruise’s face has been put on top of someone else’s using special effects to make it appear realistic.
The video is actually from a TikTok account called DeepTomCruise, which has nearly three million followers and regularly posts videos of what can appear to be Cruise.
The account has existed since February and is the work of Chris Ume who merges Cruise’s face with that of impersonator, Miles Fisher to create the realistic effect.
Bieber later posted: “All jokes aside, Tom Cruise, your shredding is insane.”
The singer was eventually made aware that the video was a deepfake and wrote: “That’s not really Tom Cruise? Lol, oh well, still hilarious.”
Cruise has yet to respond to either Bieber’s challenge to a fight or the deepfake videos.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments