Deepfakes deceive voters from India to Indonesia before elections

People greet Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, during a road show in November 2023. In India, where more than 900 million people are eligible to vote, Modi has said deepfake videos are a 'big concern', and authorities have warned social media platforms they could lose their safe-harbour status that protects them from liability for third-party content posted on their sites if they do not act. — Bloomberg

Divyendra Singh Jadoun was busy making artificial intelligence-based visual effects and voice clones for film and television in India, when he began getting calls from politicians: could he create AI videos, or deepfakes, for their election campaign?

With a hotly-contested local election in his home state of Rajasthan last November, and a national election due by May this year, the opportunity for his company, The Indian Deepfaker, is tremendous. But Jadoun was reluctant.