'I was once mugged and this felt similar': the deepfakes threatening faith in politics

AI videos of MPs in porn scenes or spouting misleading speeches are on the rise. As May polls loom, the race to take them down is on, reports Rachel Sylvester

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LEFT George Freeman, the Tory MP for Mid Norfolk, was falsely shown dejecting to Reform in an AI video, below, Right, a deepfake news report about a coup in France went viral online. Laurie Noble/UK Parliament

(Laurie Noble/UK Parliament)

In October the Conservative MP George Freeman found himself bombarded by messages from friends and colleagues accusing him of betrayal.

"They were calling me unrepeatable names, saying, 'I never thought you'd do that to us. I didn't understand what had happened," he said.

"Then I saw the video. There was me in my office in parliament, wearing my tank top, waving my arms around, speaking like me, and saying that after 20 years I'd had enough of the Conservative party, it was a busted flush, a failing organisation and I was joining Reform."

The video posted on Facebook and X was a deepfake that had used artificial intelligence to make the former technology minister look like he was announcing his defection to Nigel Farage's party. “It was going viral,” the MP for Mid Norfolk said.

"I was once mugged by three teenagers in an underpass in White City, and this felt similar. In politics you work so hard to try and build a reputation, to speak your mind and choose your words carefully. And in 15 seconds, somebody who you don't know, from the comfort of their own anonymity, can destroy your career with no comeback."

Freeman contacted Meta, which owns Facebook. "They said, 'It doesn't breach any of our guidelines.' I understand it's not sexual grooming, it's not violent terrorism or extremism, but it's pretty serious when an elected representative is wilfully and mischievously completely misrepresented."

He also reported the bogus video to the police and found "there's no law against using somebody's identity in this way".