- Turkey faces AI-generated media manipulation ahead of elections
- Fabricated videos and images threaten integrity of political process
- Cheap fake videos circulate, challenging authenticity of political claims
With the approach of nationwide local elections on March 31, Turkey is confronted with apprehensions regarding the escalating menace of disinformation and fabricated media produced via artificial intelligence.
A video that circulated on social media platforms earlier this year allegedly captured the opposition mayor of Istanbul endorsing the governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan leads.
The video features Ekrem Imamoglu, a representative of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), praising the “significant advancements” achieved in public transit initiatives during the AK Party’s regime in Istanbul.
Despite the fact that the video’s contentious “comments” led to its widespread discrediting, it sparked concerns regarding potential media manipulation in a 2019 election in which the AK Party is vying for back control of cities that the opposition captured.
In Turkey, political scandals involving “leaked” recordings are not unprecedented.
In 2010, CHP leader Deniz Baykal resigned in response to the online release of a pornographic video.
Four years later, then-Prime Minister Erdogan vehemently denied the integrity of an audio recording that implicated him in corruption.
Cheap Fake versus Deepfake
The forthcoming election faces a “huge threat” from fabricated images and videos, according to Emre Ilkan Saklica, director of the fact-checking organization Teyit (“verification” or “collaboration” in Turkish).
The proliferation of social media has led to an increase in content that has been deemed fraudulent.
“Content… spreads exponentially through social media,” he advised. “A claim originating from an individual account has the potential to rapidly gain traction and integrate itself into the mainstream.”
Several other incidents have transpired in the run-up to the elections, in which candidates are vying for positions varying from metropolitan mayor to village representative, apart from the Imamoglu video.
On Sunday, the Workers’ Party of Turkey declared the withdrawal of former footballer Gokhan Zan’s mayoral candidature in Hatay, one of the southern provinces that were severely impacted by the earthquakes of the previous year.
In response to rumors that Zan had discussed bribes and a potential job with state-run broadcaster TRT in exchange for challenging the incumbent CHP mayor of Hatay, this action was taken.
A subsequent criminal complaint was submitted by Zan, in which he claimed to have been subjected to “threats and blackmail” and that the recording had been produced by artificial intelligence.
However, according to Saklica, “cheap fake” videos were more prevalent than sophisticated AI-generated content.
Video footage of CHP officials in Istanbul counting bundles of currency circulated last week suggests that the opposition may be corrupt.
The party claimed the video was from 2019 when CHP employees were depositing cash with an attorney who was managing the office’s purchase.
According to Saklica, many individuals held the belief that deepfake, AI-generated videos posed the principal danger prior to the 2023 general elections.
“However, beyond these technologies, so-called inexpensive fakes” (images or videos) can be created in mere minutes and disseminated considerably more rapidly in Turkey.
“It adheres like chewing gum”
Ejder Batur, deputy chairman of the AK Party in Istanbul, condemned the CHP for “creating perceptions… with advertisements and disinformation” to mislead the public about its record in Istanbul over the past five years in reference to this month’s election.
The public, he continued, would refrain from reacting to disinformation.
A law enacted by the Turkish parliament in October 2022 to combat disinformation was met with criticism from certain quarters who claimed it would impede information access and exacerbate online censorship by criminalizing “disseminating false information” punishable by up to three years in prison.
Proponents of the government asserted that it was critical to restrict the dissemination of deceptive and potentially malicious information.
“A type of disinformation designed to sway election outcomes is at hand,” said Oguzhan Bilgin, director of the Diplomacy Foundation based in Istanbul and a member of the TRT board.
He cited the withdrawal of one of four presidential candidates in the election held last May as an instance where disinformation had a direct impact on the democratic process.
Three days prior to the election, Muharrem Ince withdrew, citing online posts of pornographic sex images as one of the reasons for his departure.
Bilgin acknowledged, nevertheless, that the effects of disinformation were “extensively debatable.”
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Although opposition figures have levied accusations against the AK Party for distributing false information, including the Imamoglu video, the means through which such misinformation is propagated frequently render its source difficult to ascertain.
AK Party rallies played a video purporting to show armed Kurdish leaders endorsing the CHP presidential candidate prior to the 2018 presidential election. President Erdogan, however, acknowledged that the video was “the result of the astute reasoning of our youth.”
In the chaos of politics, according to Saklica, organizations such as Teyit are confronting an uphill battle.
“Correct information spreads much more slowly than misinformation,” he explained. “As a result, rectifying misinformation that becomes lodged in the minds of many users like chewing gum” is extremely difficult.
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