AI generated election related videos: Election Commission handicapped without tools

Colombo, Sep 2 (Daily Mirror) - The Election Commission is handicapped due to the lack of technological know-how to debunk adversarial election propaganda videos generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) with a bearing on some candidates, a top source said.

At the moment, the Commission does not encounter well-organized misinformation and disinformation campaigns targeting any specific candidate except for hate posts individually uploaded on social media platforms, according to the source.

However, the source familiar with social media monitoring in view of the presidential elections said that AI-generated videos in which the images of certain candidates are doctored are in circulation.

In an AI-driven world, an onslaught of deepfake video and audio is possible. Videos in which images of the heads of some candidates are digitally manipulated to be embossed with others to create funny content are common on social media platforms.

“We need tools to debunk them. An organization came forward to assist us. We are yet to take a decision,” the source said.

The Commission is also helpless in situations where standards set by it in terms of election propaganda do not match with community standards of tech giants such as Meta and YouTube on individual freedoms.

“Our standards do not match with theirs at times. Then they are reluctant to remove content at our behest,” the source said.

The Commission lays more emphasis on Facebook than other platforms because it is widely used across the country. Instagram is a platform widely used by people in the 18-26 age group. The Commission has not identified serious, malicious content except for funny promotional activities, according to the source.