Could This be the Deepfake General Election?

“Just shut your f*cking mouth… I’m sick of it, I’m really f*cking sick of it… f*cking idiot.” Keir Starmer exclaimed at a staffer, allegedly.

 

It definitely seems fake, but what does that actually mean? Well, his voice comes across a little stilted and monotone, the distant noise kinda sounds like a stock sound effect you’d find on any audio software under the filename ‘background_crowd.mp3’, and the original source is a tweet from a self-described ‘Corbynista’, who proudly expresses his disdain for the current Labour leader. But, none of that is exactly proof, is it? Sure, Starmer’s voice sounds dull, but, let’s be real, doesn’t it always? And don’t all crowded environments sound like that? And sure, the original source may be biased, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the audio is fake; a person with bias can still publish legitimate material. Can you say, with absolute certainty, that this audio isn’t Keir Starmer?

 

That was the question that emerged on the first day of Labour’s 2023 Party Conference. The audio clip made the rounds across social media, eventually being seen by those in Westminster, with debates over its authenticity following behind it. It was eventually debunked by fact-checkers and journalists and was pulled from TikTok, but only after it raked in thousands of views. On Twitter, where the original post remains, responses range from mockery of the audio’s obvious artificiality, to people declaring they will never vote Labour, calling Starmer a “truly vile human being”.

 

It wasn’t even the only deepfake of Keir Starmer to come out that year. Soon after he was done berating his staffers, Keir Starmer was soon on Facebook, promoting a totally legitimate (now defunct) investment opportunity. This time however, the post was accompanied by an uncanny video of Starmer speaking directly to the camera, telling the viewer to invest a minimum of £250 into a platform that he personally, along with several governments and major global companies, have developed, so you have “no reason to fear or doubt.”

 

They may still be in that ‘if you look close enough, you can probably tell’ phase, but senior members of the UK Government, journalists, campaign groups, and social media companies, are seriously concerned that the upcoming UK general election could be rife with deepfakes and digitally altered material.

 

Falsehoods and misinformation aren’t a new development in UK politics. (I know, right?) Out of context quotes, misrepresented data, and, of course, bold-faced lies, have become about as iconic to modern British Politics as the Houses of Parliament or Big Ben, and social media has definitely added gallons of fuel to this already blazing fire. If you scroll through your social media feed without proper scepticism, it won’t take long for you to think that our previous First-Minister went on an expletive-ridden Whatsapp tirade against the Johnson administration, or that the Prime Minister can’t use a hammer, or that Labour is out to tax meat. While it's easy for us to laugh as baby boomers seem eternally gullible to fake news on Facebook, Gen Z hasn’t fared much better. We’ve become increasingly exposed to online radicalisation and conspiracy theories, and our ability to tell truth from fact online has severely slipped. A study from the University of Cambridge found Gen-Z Americans were actually more likely to fall for fake news more than older people, and that young-adults are more susceptible to believing fake headlines.

 

Social media companies have been trying to suppress the spread of disinformation in politics. Tiktok itself has published numerous reports outlining their policies in enforcing misleading AI content and their methods for moderating their platform, with reasonable success. Some campaign groups however, believe Tiktok’s moderation is still allowing damaging material to slip through the cracks. The Center for Countering Digital Hate, a research and campaign group, has called out Tiktok several times for hosting content that promotes dangerous drugs to teens, eating disorders, and holocaust denial.

 

And now, with the arrival of deepfakes, the already deceitful content of social media is made way, way, worse. While worryingly prevalent, online disinformation was at least possible to dispute. A claim may have been intended as a joke or satire, or a video was cut out-of-context, or the stats from an accredited institution simply disagree. We could now be entering an age in which a clear video of a politician speaking is potentially suspect, or an authentic, damning audio leak can be explained away as fake. While methods of spotting a deepfake do exist (flat delivery, unnatural pauses, inconsistent blinking), these kinks are slowly getting smoothed over, and soon, may be indiscernible from a legitimate video.

 

This upcoming General Election is a crucial component of Scotland’s future. Humza Yousaf’s plan for Scottish Independence involves making the general election a kind of de facto referendum, in which the SNP maintaining their majority in Scotland will be taken as a democratic declaration of independence. Yousaf will take this declaration to Westminster, where he will have a mandate to negotiate the terms of Scotland becoming an independent nation. The move has been met with scepticism, with many believing the move is unlikely to sway an already stubborn Westminster which seems intent on putting the thing to bed. No matter the case, the SNP’s confidence in Yousaf is now resting on his ability to maintain the majority his predecessor managed to bring in without a sweat broken, and with Labour slowly creeping in the SNP’s turf, this election will make serious waves in Scottish politics, and its important now, more than ever, that voters are certain in what they’re seeing.

 

This may seem overwhelming, and well, that’s because it is, but the damage of deepfakes can be mitigated. It involves engaging with your social media feed with a bit of scrutiny. Ask yourself, who is the original poster? Do they have ulterior motives? What are reputable news sources saying about it?  When you cast your vote in October (or November, maybe, just whenever Rishi feels like getting this over with), make sure you do it with the firm belief that what you see is the truth.