Deepfake audio recording claims opposition leaders tried to rig Slovakian election

A deepfake audio recording appearing to depict a pro-European politician and journalist discussing methods to rig Slovakia’s 2023 election raised concerns about the use of AI in political elections. The audio recording featured Michal Šimečka, leader of the liberal Progressive Slovakia party, and Denník N journalist Monika Tódová apparently discussing how to manipulate the election. Posted during a 48-hour pre-election moratorium, it was quickly discovered to be a synthetic hoax by AFP and other fact-checking organisations. The incident raised concerns about the use of underhand methods in Slovakia’s elections, the use of deepfakes in politics, and the ease with which Meta's policies can be bypassed. Because the post was audio, it exploited a loophole in Meta’s manipulated-media policy, which dictates only falsified videos go against its rules. Progressive Slovakia received 18 percent of the vote making it the second largest party in the country’s parliament behind SMER, which had campaigned to withdraw military support for its neighbour, Ukraine. It is unclear to what extent the deepfake influenced the result. Deepfake Deepfakes (a portmanteau of ' deep learning ' and 'fake') are images, videos, or audio which are edited or generated using artificial intelligence tools, and which may depict real or non-existent people. They are a type of synthetic media. Source: Wikipedia 🔗 System 🤖 Unknown Operator: Developer: Country: Slovakia Sector: Politics Purpose: Manipulate public opinion Technology: Deepfake - audio; Machine learning Issue: Impersonation ; Mis/disinformation Fact check 🚩 AFP (2023). Údajná nahrávka telefonátu predsedu PS a novinárky Denníka N vykazuje podľa expertov početné známky manipulácie

Date it happened

2023-01-01

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