In an increasingly digital world, the integrity of the electoral process is paramount. With the European Parliament elections set to take place in June 2024, Meta, the tech giant behind Facebook and Instagram, has taken a proactive stance to ensure that its platforms remain free from the misuse of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Meta's commitment to safeguarding the electoral integrity was detailed in a recent blog post by Marco Pancini, the company's head of EU Affairs. The post outlined Meta's strategy to extend its existing "Community Standards" and "Ad Standards" to encompass AI-generated content by developing new features to label content created by tools from tech giants like Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney, and Shutterstock.Â
This move underscores the company's recognition of the evolving landscape of content creation and the potential challenges posed by AI in the context of elections.
The company has announced that such content will be subject to scrutiny by independent fact-checking partners. A notable addition is the classification of content as "altered" if it involves faked, manipulated, or transformed audio, video, or photos. This is in line with Meta's policy to require photorealistic images generated through its AI tools to be explicitly labeled.
Further, Meta plans to introduce a feature that allows users to disclose when they share an AI-generated video or audio. This move aims to ensure that such content is flagged and labeled accordingly, with potential penalties for non-disclosure. The company has also tightened regulations for advertisers, mandating the disclosure of AI usage in political, social, or election-related ads. Between July and December 2023, Meta removed 430,000 ads across the European Union for failing to carry the required disclaimer.
The urgency of addressing AI misuse in the electoral context is echoed by other industry leaders and regulatory bodies. In December 2023, Google announced limitations on its AI chatbot's responses to election queries. Similarly, OpenAI has taken steps to mitigate AI interference in elections through internal monitoring standards.
The collaborative effort to combat AI election interference was further solidified on Feb. 17, when 20 tech titans, pledged to curb such activities. This initiative, coupled with actions by governments and the European Commission's consultation on election security guidelines, highlights the global recognition of the potential threats posed by generative AI and deepfakes to democratic processes.
As we get nearer to big elections happening around the world, the actions taken by Meta and other tech companies are really important for protecting the fairness of voting in the modern age of technology.
