Facebook has come under fire after research revealed a flood of deepfake advertisements impersonating UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on the platform. According to a report by The Guardian, communications company Fenimore Harper uncovered 143 fake ads last month, potentially reaching over 400,000 users, just months before the anticipated UK general election.
These malicious ads employ sophisticated deepfake technology to manipulate Sunak’s image and voice, making them deceptively realistic. One example reportedly showed a BBC news program with a fabricated announcement of the government investing in Elon Musk‘s stock market app, leading to a fake BBC page promoting an investment scam.
The research raises genuine questions about Facebook’s ability to detect and remove harmful content. Despite having policies against deepfakes and manipulated media, critics argue the platform hasn’t adapted fast enough to combat this evolving threat.
According to the report, a UK government spokesperson said: “We are working extensively across government to ensure we are ready to rapidly respond to any threats to our democratic processes, through our defending democracy taskforce and dedicated government teams.
“Our Online Safety Act goes further by putting new requirements on social platforms to swiftly remove illegal misinformation and disinformation – including where it is AI-generated – as soon as they become aware of it.”
A Meta spokesperson told The Guardian, “We remove content that violates our policies whether it was created by AI or a person. The vast majority of these adverts were disabled before this report was published and the report itself notes that less than 0.5% of UK users saw any individual ad that did go live.”
“Since 2018, we have provided industry-leading transparency for ads about social issues, elections or politics, and we continue to improve on these efforts,” the company added.
These malicious ads employ sophisticated deepfake technology to manipulate Sunak’s image and voice, making them deceptively realistic. One example reportedly showed a BBC news program with a fabricated announcement of the government investing in Elon Musk‘s stock market app, leading to a fake BBC page promoting an investment scam.
The research raises genuine questions about Facebook’s ability to detect and remove harmful content. Despite having policies against deepfakes and manipulated media, critics argue the platform hasn’t adapted fast enough to combat this evolving threat.
According to the report, a UK government spokesperson said: “We are working extensively across government to ensure we are ready to rapidly respond to any threats to our democratic processes, through our defending democracy taskforce and dedicated government teams.
“Our Online Safety Act goes further by putting new requirements on social platforms to swiftly remove illegal misinformation and disinformation – including where it is AI-generated – as soon as they become aware of it.”
A Meta spokesperson told The Guardian, “We remove content that violates our policies whether it was created by AI or a person. The vast majority of these adverts were disabled before this report was published and the report itself notes that less than 0.5% of UK users saw any individual ad that did go live.”
“Since 2018, we have provided industry-leading transparency for ads about social issues, elections or politics, and we continue to improve on these efforts,” the company added.
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