Deepfakes in an election year — is Asia ready to handle misinformation campaigns?

Ahead of the Indonesian elections on Feb. 14, a video of late Indonesian president Suharto advocating for the political party he once presided over went viral. 

The AI-generated deepfake video that cloned his face and voice racked up 4.7 million views on X alone. 

This was not a one-off incident. 

In Pakistan, a deepfake of former prime minister Imran Khan emerged around the national elections, announcing his party was boycotting them. Meanwhile, in the U.S., New Hampshire voters heard a deepfake of President Joe Biden's asking them to not vote in the presidential primary. 

Deepfakes of politicians are becoming increasingly common, especially with 2024 set up to be the biggest global election year in history. 

Reportedly, at least 60 countries and more than four billion people will be voting for their leaders and representatives this year, which makes deepfakes a matter of serious concern.

According to a Sumsub report in November, the number of deepfakes across the world rose by 10 times from 2022 to 2023. In APAC alone, deepfakes surged by 1,530% during the same period.

Online media, including social platforms and digital advertising, saw the biggest rise in identity fraud rate at 274% between 2021 and 2023. Professional services, healthcare, transportation and video gaming were were also among industries impacted by identity fraud.

Asia is not ready to tackle deepfakes in elections in terms of regulation, technology, and education, said Simon Chesterman, senior director of AI governance at AI Singapore. 

In its 2024 Global Threat Report, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike reported that with the number of elections scheduled this year, nation-state actors including from China, Russia and Iran are highly likely to conduct