Deepfakes are a threat to democracy

In the wake of The Danish People’s Party’s use of a deepfake video with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, we are faced with a disturbing reality that affects the core areas of our liberal democracies. The incident in Denmark was perhaps not entirely surprising, given previous cases in countries such as the USA, Slovakia and Moldova, and other orchestrated attempts by authoritarian regimes’ “troll factories”. But the use of “deepfakes” by legitimate, registered political parties in a liberal democracy that is so close to Norway is now moving the boundaries and diluting trust in our own political conversation, which is already under great pressure.

The critical question that arises is how we can strengthen the individual’s capacity for critical thinking and equip people with the skills to evaluate sources, especially in relation to political messages, when such manipulative tactics are almost on our doorstep.

This is a crisis in the social debate, which challenges fundamental democratic principles. The American political scientist Suzanne Chambers believes that this is made possible both by structural features of the internet and especially by the economic and social model of social media. But also by malicious, party-political actors and other strategic actors who exploit these. That is precisely what makes this development so sad, that it is meant maliciously and with intent.

How social media influencing policy-making in local democracy was the topic of my master’s thesis in political science at the Arctic University of Norway (2023). Several of the informants who were local politicians believed that the spread of such “problematic information” and other features of social media in general, now influence policy-making itself. Because it leads us away from a rational basis of knowledge, creates increased polarization and gives less focus on important conversations. This hinders social development and is unacceptable from a democratic point of view.

We must act decisively, to ensure that such events as we are now seeing in Denmark are never allowed to take hold in Norway. It is important that our Norwegian political parties unreservedly undertake to refrain from using such fraudulent means. Perhaps one should go so far as to refrain from using social media as a tool at all. When the border has now been moved in Denmark, it may inspire someone to repeat these actions in Norway.

More broadly, especially within social media, we must actively address and counter the spread of misinformation and deceptive tactics to protect the integrity of our public conversation. This can be done through:

1. Awareness raising and training: Raise awareness in the school system and society at large about problems such as artificial intelligence and “deepfakes” and provide training on how to identify fake videos to help people be more critical and skeptical of the content they consume.

2. Technological solutions: Support and intensify research and development of technological tools and algorithms to identify and expose “deepfakes”, which will help limit the spread of problematic information.

3. Stricter regulation: Clarify legislation and provide guidelines that regulate the production, distribution and use of deepfake technology in a political context.

4. Platform responsibility: Social media platforms and other digital service providers should be encouraged and given intensives to implement guidelines, mechanisms and tools that detect and remove problematic information.

5. Cooperation and information exchange: The international cooperation between governments, technology companies, academic institutions and civil society must be further intensified and strengthened, so that there is an exchange of knowledge on “best practice” to combat its use.

It requires a joint and coordinated implementation of measures from various actors to combat this. Perhaps the most important thing is to constantly talk about a society that prioritizes critical thinking, promotes media literacy and maintains ethical communication.

This kind of collective knowledge can be the best defense against manipulative influence. Digital threats are already here.

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