Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what is the Government’s policy on the use of deepfake imagery, video or audio in elections.

The Government takes the threat posed by harmful deepfakes very seriously. The Government recognises that the huge opportunities offered by AI also come with risks, including potential challenges posed by AI-generated content for the online information environment and its potential impact on democratic processes.

The UK’s Online Safety Act has introduced duties on in scope services to tackle digital impersonation where it amounts to an existing offence, including false statements about a candidate's character or conduct ahead of or during an election.

Solutions that help to determine what media is real and what is AI-generated are key to tackling a range of AI risks. The government is undertaking work to explore the potential methods for detecting AI-generated content.

The UK also has strong data protection laws to help tackle the misuse of personal identity, through the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. These laws require that any personal data processing is lawful, fair and transparent.