Political Deepfakes and Democratic Trust: Assessing the Threat to Electoral Integrity in Pakistan

Abstract

Political deepfakes are a new problem in democratic politics in today's fast-changing world of generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI). Deepfakes are synthesized or manipulated audio, video or images, which can cause political leaders to be made to say and do what never actually happened. This paper delves into the issue of political deepfakes and their impact on the trust and integrity of the electoral process in Pakistan, focusing especially on the General Elections in 2024. The paper presents an argument, based on the existing academic literature and official electoral documents, fact-checking reports and credible secondary sources, that the potential of political deepfakes is not limited to fooling individual voters. What is more important democratically is how they make people doubt what is "real" and lessen their trust in political communication, news, candidate and electoral institutions. The 2024 election in Pakistan has shown that AI manipulated and created political contents were employed in a context that already features internet misinformation, limited digital environments and high levels of political polarization. Election-boycott messages were also used in fake news portals (falsely claimed to be from a political figure), and politicians were also communicating using AI-generated content that they knew they were using. The paper also suggests that the regulatory provision in Pakistan's existing electoral and digital laws are insufficient as regards the unique features of synthetic political media. To ensure electoral integrity, it is essential to establish clear guidelines on the use of AI tools in electoral processes, implement swift fact-checking systems, promote digital and media literacy, ensure platforms' accountability, establish institutional oversight, and protect against anti-disinformation laws being used to suppress electoral misinformation. The paper calls for a new understanding of the political deepfakes as a technology problem, but also as an emerging threat to the epistemic premises of the democratic politics in Pakistan.