How to do it
Protecting your face and voice means working on two fronts at once: reducing the material that gets out and being ready to recognize abuses.
- Reduce high-quality public material. A sharp close-up of the face and a clear recording of the voice are the fuel for clones. Set profiles to private, limit the audience, and when you post, prefer less frontal and less defined images. It doesn't mean disappearing: it means not offering the perfect material to just anyone.
- Be careful where you leave your voice. Forwarded voice messages, public videos, live streams, even your voicemail: these are sources of audio. A few seconds can be enough. Think twice before making public any content where you speak at length and in the clear.
- Set up the verification defenses. Agree with your family on a secret safe word for emergency calls, and adopt the callback rule (faced with an urgent request for money or data, you hang up and call back at the known number). These defenses work even if your voice has already been cloned.
- Lock down accounts that unlock with face or voice. Where you use facial or voice recognition to log in, always pair it with a second barrier: two-step verification with a code. That way a clone of your face or voice isn't enough to get in.
Check: you're in the best position when you've reduced public material, you have a verification procedure shared with those close to you, and none of your important logins opens with voice or face alone.
A concrete example
Roberto is a small business owner with a strong online presence: videos, interviews, live streams. Perfect material to clone him. After hearing about a fraud involving a "deepfaked" executive, he acts. He doesn't stop posting, but he moves the more personal content to closed channels and reduces the live streams in which he speaks at length alone. At his company he introduces a rule: no payment or confidential data is authorized on the basis of a single call or video call, a confirmation through a second internal channel is always needed. At home he agrees on a safe word with his wife and children. He hasn't made it impossible to clone him, but he has stripped the clone of its value: even if his voice or his face are imitated, decisions go through verifications the fake can't pass.
When it does NOT work (and how to fix it)
If your image or voice is already widely spread
For those who work in public (creators, professionals, executives) eliminating the material is impractical. Here the defense shifts from "hiding" to "verifying": assume a clone is possible and build confirmation procedures around you (safe word, second channel, dual authorization for payments). Strip the fake of its value by making it pointless to imitate you.
If you're the one receiving a call with someone else's cloned voice
Protecting your own voice isn't enough: you might be the target of someone else's clone. The remedy is the verification procedure applied to anyone who asks you for something sensitive: hang up, call back at the known number, ask for the safe word. It applies to every call, not just to your voice.
If you discover unauthorized use of your face or voice
You have concrete courses of action. Report the content to the platform hosting it and ask for its removal; keep the evidence (links, dates, screenshots); and in serious cases turn to the authorities or a lawyer. Protection of one's own face and voice is recognized by many legal systems, and the rules on artificial reproductions are getting stronger.
A tip from someone who actually uses it
Shift your mindset from the impossible defense (preventing them from cloning you) to the possible defense (making the clone useless). You'll never be able to guarantee that your voice and your face won't fall into someone's hands. But you can make sure that, even cloned, they open no door: no logins unlocked by biometrics alone, no important decisions made on a single channel, a secret word the fake doesn't know. That's where you win, not in the attempt to disappear.
Frequently asked questions
If I never post photos and audio, am I safe?
You greatly reduce the risk, but control isn't total: others can film or record you, and a photo at an event or a group video can end up online without your consent. That's why the defense can't only be "don't post": you also need the verification procedures, which protect regardless of how much of your material is out there.
Is facial or voice recognition safer than a password?
Convenient, yes, but with a flaw that makes it risky: a compromised password you can change, your face and your voice you can't. That's why they shouldn't be used alone for important logins. Treat them as a convenience to always pair with a second barrier, never as the only house key.