Facebook shares hit a 17,5-month high on Tuesday, company pledges to remove deepfake and other manipulated videos ahead of US presidential election

Facebook Inc (FB) revealed intentions to remove deepfake and other manipulated videos from its platform, as it seeks to diminish misinformation ahead of the 2020 US presidential election.

Yet, the company said such a policy “does not extend to content that is parody or satire, or video that has been edited solely to omit or change the order of words”.

Additionally, misleading media, which is a result of technologies like AI that “merges, replaces or superimposes content on to a video, making it appear to be authentic”, will also be removed.

Facebook shares closed higher for a second consecutive trading session on NASDAQ on Tuesday. The stock edged up 0.22% ($0.46) to $213.06, after touching an intraday high at $214.53, or a price level not seen since July 25th 2018 ($218.62).

Shares of Facebook Inc have risen 3.81% so far in 2020 compared with a 0.20% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2019, Facebook Inc’s stock went up 56.57%, thus, it again outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 28.88% gain.

Facebook also addressed a heavily edited video, which attempted to make US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seem incoherent by slurring her speech.

“The doctored video of Speaker Pelosi does not meet the standards of this policy and would not be removed. Only videos generated by artificial intelligence to depict people saying fictional things will be taken down,” Facebook Inc said in a statement, cited by Reuters.

“Once the video of Speaker Pelosi was rated by a third-party fact-checker we reduced its distribution, and critically, people who saw it, tried to share it or already had received warnings that it was false,” it added.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 45 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Facebook Inc’s stock price, have a median target of $240.00, with a high estimate of $342.00 and a low estimate of $120.00. The median estimate represents a 12.64% upside compared to the closing price of $213.06 on January 7th.

The same media also reported that at least 41 out of 50 surveyed investment analysts had rated Facebook Inc’s stock as “Buy”, while 4 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 2 analysts had recommended selling the stock.