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Ofcom responds to hundreds of complaints over Channel 4’s Queen ‘deepfake’ Christmas speech

Caitlin Elliott
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    • Ofcom has responded to the hundreds of complaints it received over the Channel 4's 'deepfake' version of the Queen's Christmas speech.

    The TV watchdog was flooded with 354 complaints over the digitally altered, satirical version of Her Majesty’s annual festive message.

    Deepfake is a technology that can be used to edit people’s faces into videos and the clip showed the Queen dancing on her desk at Buckingham Palace and giving an ‘alternative’ speech.

    The broadcast sparked outrage among much of the British public, with furious viewers taking to Twitter to criticise Channel 4.

    ‘Channel 4’s deep fake of the Queen is abhorrent, distasteful and perverse,’ one penned on social media. 

    ‘Shame on you, Channel 4. Shame on you for showing that’s it’s perfectly fine to mock the elderly. Absolutely disgusting,’ agreed another.

    ‘This is vile, disgusting, disrespectful, disgraceful. They should be ashamed of themselves for creating such a vile video. Do people not respect their elders, let alone their queen. CHANNEL 4 IS A DISGRACE,’ one more wrote.

    Ofcom has now responded to the official complaints it received, sharing a statement to confirm there would be no further investigation.

    “We assessed complaints from viewers who felt that this programme was disrespectful to the Queen,” a spokesperson said.

    “In our view, Channel 4 made clear that the images were deliberately manipulated as a device to question societal trust in what we see online.

    “We also consider that the satirical tone of the film was in keeping with audience expectations of this broadcaster.”