By EUobserver
Publication Date: 2025-12-22 06:08:00
In the run-up to the 2024 European Parliament elections last June, several far-right political parties in France, Italy and Belgium used unlabeled generative AI content to influence voters – despite pledging to respect ethical campaign standards.
Investigations by DFRLab, Alliance4Europe And AI forensics identified 131 undeclared, AI-generated or manipulated content circulating on Instagram, Facebook, X, Telegram and Vkontakte in the weeks leading up to the vote.
The material ranged from fake images and AI-powered images to shallowfakes and cheapfakes: low-cost manipulations that combine out-of-context captions with misleading images.
Researchers found that the content was used to deepen social divisions, advance conspiracy narratives and distort public debate.
The European Commission’s own Post-election report confirmed the pattern and warned that political actors had used such material to “spread misleading narratives and reinforce social divisions.”
It…
