United States: According to current and former officials, the Biden administration does not have concrete plans to notify the public about deepfakes or other misleading material during the 2024 election unless it is obviously coming from a foreign player and constitutes a sufficiently serious danger.
Political Concerns and Inaction
While both government and non-government cyber experts anticipate a deluge of misinformation and deepfakes during this year’s election campaign, FBI and DHS officials continue to worry that if they get involved, they will be accused of trying to sway the results in favor of President Joe Biden’s reelection.
At a meeting last month, cybersecurity and intelligence officials were addressed by Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine who caucuses with the Democrats. King expressed his fear to them, saying, “I’m worried that you may be overly concerned with appearing partisan and that that will freeze you in terms of taking the necessary actions.”
Government Oversight Challenges
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican, questioned the government’s response to a deepfake video. Who is in charge of reacting in the event that this occurs? “Have we considered our course of action in case one of these scenarios materializes?” he inquired. “We would like you to be aware that the video is not authentic. Who would be responsible for that?
According to a senior American official with knowledge of government discussions, federal law enforcement organizations—especially the FBI—are hesitant to expose misinformation having a domestic provenance.
According to the person, the FBI would look into potential election law infractions but is ill-prepared to comment publicly on misinformation or deepfakes created by Americans.
“The FBI does not work in the truth-finding industry,” the spokesperson declared.
The official stated that during interagency meetings regarding the matter, it is evident that the Biden administration lacks a clear strategy for handling domestic election disinformation, encompassing deepfakes that mimic candidates or fabricated reports about violence or closed polling places that may deter voters from casting their ballots.
The FBI said in a statement to NBC News that it is unlikely to quickly identify bogus information, even when it looks into potential criminal breaches involving it.
How Other Countries Responded to it
In contrast to the United States government, Canada has released a description of the process by which Ottawa makes decisions about potential election-related incidents. “Communicate clearly, transparently and impartially with Canadians during an election in the event of an incident or a series of incidents that threatened the election’s integrity,” the government website pledges.
Other democracies, including as Taiwan, France, and Sweden, have taken a more aggressive stance against misinformation, pointing out erroneous claims or working closely with neutral organizations that do fact-checking and public education, according to experts.
Discord halted American efforts
In order to help detect potentially violent or dangerous content, U.S. government agencies started collaborating with social media businesses and scholars during the 2016 election, during which Russia used social media to propagate misinformation. However, a 2023 federal court decision dissuaded government organizations from ever communicating with social media companies on content.
This week is the Supreme Court’s scheduled hearing on the matter. Should the lower court’s decision be overturned, regular correspondence between the government agencies and the tech companies may begin again.
