'Cheapfakes', not deepfakes, spread election lies in India

Fact-checkers say most the falsified pictures and videos posted online during the six-week election have not been made using artificial intelligence (AI), instead using relatively cheap and simple techniques.

India's election was in full swing when hundreds of social media users shared a video that appeared to show Home Minister Amit Shah saying the ruling party wanted to scrap a quota system aimed at undoing centuries of caste discrimination.

The controversial comments caused a brief furore before fact-checkers stepped in and declared the video a fake that had been made using old footage that was doctored with the help of basic editing tools - a so-called cheapfake.

In the run-up to the ongoing election, the results of which are due on June 4, politicians and digital rights groups voiced concern that voters could be swayed by misinformation contained in AI-driven "deepfake" videos.

But fact-checkers say most the falsified pictures and videos posted online during the six-week election have not been made using artificial intelligence (AI), instead using relatively cheap and simple techniques such as footage editing or mislabelling to present content in a misleading context.

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"Maybe 1% of the content we have seen is AI-generated," said Kiran Garimella, an assistant professor at Rutgers University who researches WhatsApp in India. "From what we can tell, it's still a very small percentage of misinformation."

Whether cheapfakes or deepfakes, the result can be equally convincing, fact-checkers say, putting the onus on social media companies to do more to root out all forms of misinformation being spread on their platforms.