- New polling reveals almost one in three (30 per cent) UK adults, approximately 16.5 million people, encountered political deepfakes or AI-generated content online before the recent local elections.
- The cross-party think tank Demos, which commissioned the research, has warned of a “democratic emergency” and called for the government to establish clear rules and accountability for deepfakes before the next general election.
- 16 per cent of respondents reported seeing political deepfakes more than five times, with Labour and Reform leaders most frequently targeted among UK politicians.
- Public confidence in identifying deepfakes is low, as 43 per cent of respondents were not confident they could discern them.
- Subjects of political deepfakes included Donald Trump, Keir Starmer, and Nigel Farage, with 56 per cent of content seen portraying subjects negatively.
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