Microsoft’s new Video Authenticator can analyze a photo or video’s grayscale to detect deepfakes (artificially manipulated images). Built into Microsoft Azure, it allows content creators to add digital certificates to their content as metadata. Then, there is a reader that detects the certificates and matches them to its source, letting subsequent viewers know if the content is authentic or has been changed.

This is the latest step by Microsoft to combat deepfakes. It has previously assisted in tagging 96 foreign-influence campaigns between 2013 and 2019. Tackling disinformation on social media is a core principle of Microsoft’s Defending Democracy Program.