Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://t.me/mothershipsg
A video of a man who looks astonishingly like Tesla CEO Elon Musk went viral on social media recently.
Doppelgänger?
The video first surfaced on Douyin, and was subsequently reposted to TikTok and Facebook, the latter of which garnered over 1,800 shares in about a week's time.
In the brief clip, Musk's doppelgänger asks in Mandarin if anyone is up for a ride.
@masikexiaomiWelcome my fans. #tesla #elonmusk #SnowballFightAgainstHunger♬ original sound - Chinese Elon Musk 中国马斯克
The unidentified man's resemblance to Musk, who is the richest man in the world and whose face recently graced Time Magazine's covers as 2021 Person of the Year, is uncanny.
Some online users, as well as 9Gag, have taken to calling the lookalike "Yi Long Musk".
Deepfake?
Netizens expressed their surprise and awe at the man's similar appearance, with some commenting in a tongue-in-cheek manner that the Chinese "have a replica of everything".
Others who were more sceptical pointed out that the video could be a deepfake.
Deepfake technology uses artificial intelligence to swap faces in videos and digital content to make very realistic-looking, but falsified, media.
With deepfake, a person's appearance can be replicated by another person in a video.
Here's an example of a deepfake video.
@iamjesserichardsCole Sprouse part 2 ft Dylan Sprouse #deepfake #colesprouse♬ originalljud - absolutesnacc
Some users noted that the lighting in the video looks artificial, and one Facebook user in particular highlighted that there is what appears to be a "glitch" in the video.
Deepfake or not, the video has certainly gotten the Internet's attention.
Follow and listen to our podcast here
Top photo from Kcho How / FB and NASA Kennedy via Wikimedia Commons