Elections 2024: IEC ready to fend off deep fakes

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it is ready to combat artificial intelligence (AI) generated misinformation ahead of the 29 May polls.

The 2024 Global Risk Report produced by the World Economic Forum, identified AI-generated misinformation and disinformation as the second most significant global risk after extreme weather.

“This concern is well-founded, especially with the rapid rise of tools like generative AI-empowered deep fakes, posing a threat to the integrity of democratic processes.

“Deepfakes, which are highly realistic fabricated videos or images, can deceive voters, manipulate public opinion, and tarnish the reputation of political parties and politicians,” the report said.

Fighting new threats

Mawethu Mosery, IEC deputy chief electoral officer of outreach, said the commission would partner with different stakeholders to fight the new deep fake threat, which threatens the integrity of elections throughout the world.

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He said the IEC would partner with statutory bodies responsible for digital content and civil society organisations to manage and sanitise the environment.

“We will also cooperate with the tech companies to assist with interventions.

“We have also resolved to educate the electorate to be on the lookout for this kind of incorrect, exaggerated and manipulated information intended to cause havoc,” Mosery said.

To counter the risk of deep fakes, the IEC, in collaboration with Media Monitoring Africa, has launched an initiative called Padre.

This initiative allows voters to fact-check information regarding South African political parties and their recent statements.

The year of the elections

An estimated four billion people will be going to the polls this year in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, India and South Africa, so AI-generated disinformation is a concern.

“However, the increasing prevalence of disinformation, fuelled by the growing use of deep fakes and generative AI, means that politicians and voters alike will need to be on high alert,” the Global Risks
Report report said.

Anna Collard, a content strategy expert at KnowBe4 Africa, a cybersecurity training organisation, said there had been a vast improvement in the quality of deep fakes over the past year, making them more convincing and difficult to identify.

She cited incidents in October last year when cyber criminals used deep fake videos to impersonate African Union chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat during online conversations with European diplomats.

Similarly, in December last year, Facebook removed over 100 deep fake paid advertisements featuring British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after nearly half a million people viewed them.

“Deepfakes pose major risks in the run-up to elections, both in the UK and South Africa,” Collard said.

“Voters need to be aware of this risk and be proactive about mitigating their impact.”

According to Collard, the initial step in combating the impact of misinformation and disinformation through deep fakes is raising awareness.

“The public must be aware of the existence of this phenomenon,” she said.

“The production of deepfake videos and images is cheap and easy.”

Apart from raising awareness, another crucial principle is to verify information.

“If a politician purportedly said something that’s deeply polarising, it’s important to verify whether they genuinely said it.”

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