An anonymous campaign used AI voice conversion software to impersonate Sudan's former leader Omar al-Bashir on TikTok, posting fake 'leaked recordings' that received hundreds of thousands of views and spread disinformation during the country's civil war.
Since late August 2023, an anonymous TikTok account called 'The Voice of Sudan' has been posting dozens of alleged 'leaked recordings' of Sudan's former leader Omar al-Bashir, using AI voice conversion software to create fake audio content. The campaign received hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok. BBC investigation revealed that at least four of the Bashir recordings were taken from live broadcasts by a Sudanese political commentator in the United States, with voice conversion software used to mimic Bashir's voice speaking the same scripts. The fake recordings often criticized the current military leader General Abdel Fattah Burhan and appeared to show Bashir commenting on Sudan's ongoing civil war. Bashir, who was toppled in 2019 and faces war crimes accusations, has not been seen publicly for a year and is believed seriously ill. The campaign occurred during Sudan's civil war that began in April 2023 between the military and Rapid Support Forces militia. TikTok removed the account after BBC contact, citing violations of guidelines on false content that may cause significant harm and synthetic media rules. The incident demonstrates how AI tools can quickly and cheaply distribute fake content through social media platforms during times of political instability.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to conduct large-scale disinformation campaigns, malicious surveillance, or targeted and sophisticated automated censorship and propaganda, with the aim of manipulating political processes, public opinion, and behavior.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed