Top tech companies, AI developers and security firms sign anti-deepfake agreement to combat election interference

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A wide range of leading tech companies have signed a voluntary agreement to combat AI-generated deepfakes that could be used for election interference by misleading voters.

The agreement proposes that the signatories will adopt a new framework to help identify misleading deepfakes, and label them when they are created or uploaded onto social media.

Among those who signed were Meta, Google, Microsoft, IBM, Amazon, and Adobe, with social media platforms X, Snap, and TikTok also signing the agreement.

Deepfakes are expected to be a major threat to this years elections

AI has been a significant concern at this year’s Munich Security conference where the agreement was signed, with Google launching its AI Cyber Defense Initiative just days before.

The latest agreement will help boost communication on when and where political deepfakes are created and distributed to mitigate the potential damage they cause. While the agreement is voluntary, deepfakes are a significant cause for concern in a year filled with critical elections across the globe.

In a press release on the announcement of the agreement, vice chair and president of Microsoft Brad Smith said, “The challenges are formidable, and our expectations must be realistic … There is no way the tech sector can protect elections by itself from this new type of electoral abuse.”

Shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a deepfake video of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was widely shared in which the president asked his troops to lay down their arms and surrender. The video was quickly debunked as a fake, but deepfaking technology has progressed significantly in the past few years.

Just last month, the US had its first taste of election interference in 2024 when New Hampshire was targeted by a robo-call impersonation President Joe Biden asking constituents to not vote in the state’s primary election.

Via TechCrunch