A Conservative MP reported to police a deepfake video that falsely depicted him announcing he had joined Reform UK, which circulated widely on social media as political disinformation.
George Freeman, the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk and former Minister of State in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, discovered a deepfake video circulating on social media that falsely depicted him announcing he had joined Reform UK. In the AI-generated video, Freeman appeared to say 'the time for half measures is over' and that the 'Conservative party had lost its way' while announcing his defection to Reform. Freeman immediately denounced the video as fabricated, stating it was created without his knowledge or consent and used his image and voice without permission. He reported the incident to Norfolk Police and relevant authorities, emphasizing that such political disinformation has the potential to seriously distort, disrupt and corrupt democracy. Freeman noted he remains the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk with no intention of joining Reform or any other party. He expressed uncertainty whether the incident was a politically motivated attack or a dangerous prank, but highlighted the recent increase in political disinformation and extremism. Freeman urged anyone who sees the video to report it immediately rather than share it further.
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.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed