WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A computer-generated video of U.S. President Donald Trump licking tech billionaire Elon Musk’s toes briefly played on video screens at the office of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as staff returned to work on Monday.
The bogus footage played on loop for several minutes throughout the department’s Washington headquarters, according to Marisa Kabas, an independent journalist who posted a video of the incident to social media. She cited an agency source.
Washington Post journalist Jeff Stein also said on social media that the department’s televisions had been hijacked.
Reuters was unable to establish the provenance of the video.
“Another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources. Appropriate action will be taken for all involved,” department spokesperson Kasey Lovett said in an email.
Musk’s remaking of the American government, which he is carrying out through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, is unpopular inside the civil service. A Reuters/IPSOS poll published on Sunday shows that 42% of the country supports the endeavor while 53% oppose it.
The incident also comes amid concern over the power of machine learning technology – popularly known as artificial intelligence – to produce “deepfakes,” convincing videos of celebrities and politicians in compromising or humiliating positions.
(Reporting by Raphael Satter. Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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