Strong and Free Elections Act closes some loopholes but carves out exemptions for parody and satire.<\/p>\n
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Bill C-25 has received royal assent, officially amending the Canada Elections Act to ban AI-generated imitations of real people, also known as deepfakes, of political figures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The news: Also known as The Strong and Free Elections Act, Bill C-25 contains multiple amendments intended to strengthen the electoral process. This includes \u201cbanning sophisticated deepfakes of electoral actors that intend to mislead Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n
The act makes it illegal to create or distribute an image or voice imitation that is likely to be mistaken for a political figure, like candidates, party leaders, or the chief electoral officer, with the intent to mislead. The act does carve out a defence for imitations with the intent of parody or satire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the source: \u201cDeepfakes, synthetic media, and AI-generated disinformation are reshaping the information environment in which people live and in which democratic debate takes place,\u201d reads a section of Canada\u2019s AI Strategy. \u201cThis has direct implications for elections, public discourse, and trust in institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the thread: Previously, the Canada Elections Act\u2019s anti-impersonation measures only applied to someone who falsely represented themselves or someone else to be an individual (like a political candidate) with the intent to mislead. It did not cover a scenario where a party leader\u2019s voice or image is manipulated to make it appear that they say or do things that they never said or did. The key difference, and the loophole C-25 is closing, is that a deepfake manipulator cannot directly represent themselves as the candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
RELATED: Yoshua Bengio co-signs statement calling for new laws to combat deepfakes<\/a><\/p>\n Final thought: \u00a0Earlier this year, foreign affairs deputy minister David Morrison and national security adviser Nathalie Drouin warned a parliamentary committee<\/a> that deepfakes were likely to impact Canada\u2019s next election. Facebook has already been overrun with deepfakes of Prime Minister Mark Carney; some videos promote investment schemes<\/a> into assets like crypto, while others promote disinformation, such as a video where a deepfaked Carney appears to call for a ban on cars<\/a>.<\/p>\n The technology previously infiltrated Slovakia\u2019s election<\/a> in 2023 with fabricated distasteful remarks from Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka, and the United States in 2024, when a robocaller using the deepfaked voice of then-president Joe Biden<\/a> urged people in New Hampshire to not to vote in the state\u2019s presidential primary.\u00a0<\/p>\n Feature image courtesy Unsplash<\/a>. Photo by Aleksandr Galenko<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Strong and Free Elections Act closes some loopholes but carves out exemptions for parody and satire.
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