Deepfakes are a phenomenon in which an existing image or likeness of a person is replaced with someone else’s image. This technology used to only linked with Snapchat or Instagram, but now it is becoming more nefarious. Last month, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Dutch Parliament had an online call with Leonid Volkov, Alexi Navalny's chief of staff. This man turned out to be a deepfake video of Volkov, meaning it wasn’t really him. To make matters worse, only 30% of companies surveyed by tech experts say they are prepared for deepfake threats.

In this episode, Drew and Alex worry about what is next. While this technology used to be funny and meaningless, it could be the next threat to democracy and the truth. According to “Venture Beat,” the number of deepfakes on the web increased 330% from October 2019 to June 2020, impacting close to 60,000 people. Drew and Alex imagine what could happen if a deepfake of Donald Trump called for violence, or the fear of deepfake technology could stop citizens from listening to their leaders.

Later in the episode, they turn their attention to Apple in China. Two decades ago, Apple thought it could change China by bringing their American values to China, instead many experts worry that China is managing to change American companies. Now Apple, a company considered to be at the forefront of protecting consumer privacy, has opened their market to China and the backlash could be coming. User data, including iCloud, is currently stored in Chinese data facilities. In the past, Chinese officials couldn’t access the data due to encryption keys that Apple was assumed to possess. Unfortunately, Chinese firms want to open this data up for state organizations and let them use these same systems. This would mean that many Apple users' information could be vulnerable to the Chinese government. Drew and Alex worry that Apple has become one company with two distinct markets and policies. Should western companies put profits ahead of their pure standards?