A Conservative former minister said a video of him apparently defecting to reform is “completely fake and false”, saying it shows the danger of AI-powered disinformation.
George Freeman, the Tory MP for Mid Norfolk, said he had “no intention” of joining Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
The clip, in which he appeared to say ‘the time for half measures is over’ and that the ‘Conservative party had lost its way’, was widely circulated, including by a page called ‘Brexit Brian’.
In a statement shared on his social media, Freeman MP said: ‘I have reported this matter to the relevant authorities and I urge anyone who sees the video to report it immediately rather than share it further. Strong action must be taken by everyone to tackle the growing problem of “fake news”, and this includes social media platforms.”
He said: “The video is a fabrication, made without my knowledge or consent, and uses my image and voice without consent. Regardless of my position as an MP, that should be an offence.
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“The deliberate spread of disinformation through AI-generated content – whether aimed at identity theft for fraud, mis-selling, political indoctrination or any other purpose – is a worrying and dangerous development.”
He added that there has been a “massive increase in political disinformation” in recent months, with intelligence agencies clear that “Russia and other rogue states are engaged in cyber disruption on an industrial scale, alongside organized cybercrime.”
While he said he did not know whether the deepfake video was made by political opponents or was just a “dangerous hoax,” he said it was an example of the type of communication that could “seriously distort, disrupt and corrupt our democracy.”
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the former Science Minister, Mr Freeman MP, reported the incident to the police.
Norfolk Police were contacted for comment.
Security experts have been sounding the alarm for some time about deepfakes undermining trust in society by making it difficult to know what is real and what is artificially generated.
Recent advances in AI video using tools like OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo have made it easier than ever for people to create compelling footage, although both have controls intended to make it difficult to impersonate real people.
Still, experts said Subway that these types of tools pose a ‘real risk’ of disinformation and disinformation.
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