One in three voters in the UK encountered political deepfakes in the month leading up to the local elections, according to a new poll. The survey of 2,005 adults by Opinium for the cross-party think tank Demos found that around 16.5 million adults saw AI-generated content about politicians or candidates. The findings have prompted warnings of a “democratic emergency” from Demos, just weeks before the crucial Makerfield by-election.
Deepfakes, which include fake images, videos, and audio recordings, were seen by 30 per cent of respondents. Of those, 16 per cent reported encountering such content more than five times. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage were the most commonly deepfaked UK politicians, a significant factor in the upcoming Makerfield contest, which is expected to be a tight race between Labour and Reform.
The Electoral Commission has launched a pilot to detect deepfakes, but results are not expected for at least six months. Demos has called for urgent government action, urging ministers to use the Representation of the People Bill to introduce clear legal responsibilities for platforms and developers. Previous proposals by Demos to address AI-generated election misinformation were not taken up by the government.
Chi Onwurah, chair of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, described the rise in political deepfakes as “deeply alarming” and stressed the need for stronger safeguards. “Deepfakes can do untold damage to individual lives and to the integrity of our democratic systems,” she said. The poll also revealed that 39 per cent of respondents were unsure if they had seen a deepfake, and 43 per cent were not confident they could identify one.
Among those who had seen political deepfakes, 56 per cent said the content portrayed the subject negatively. The most commonly identified subjects were Donald Trump (45 per cent), Sir Keir Starmer (36 per cent), and Nigel Farage (27 per cent). Overall, 42 per cent of respondents expressed concern about the impact of AI misinformation on the local and devolved elections held on 7 May.
