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Written question asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour) on Thursday, 29 February 2024, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 14 March 2024. It was answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Conservative) on Thursday, 14 March 2024 on behalf of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.

Elections: Disinformation

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent any negative impact on this year's local elections as a result of fake news being disseminated through (1) artificial intelligence, and (2) other means.

Answer

The Government is committed to safeguarding the UK’s elections and already has established systems and processes in place, to protect the democratic integrity of the UK.

The Government has established the Defending Democracy Taskforce, which has a mandate to safeguard our democratic institutions and processes from the full range of threats, including digitally manipulated content. The Taskforce is an enduring government function which is ensuring we have a robust system in place to rapidly respond to any threats during election periods, including novel threats from artificial intelligence (AI).

The new digital imprints regime, introduced by the Elections Act 2022, will increase the transparency of digital political advertising, including AI-generated material.

Additionally, it is already an election offence for a person to make a false statement about a candidate which provides a reasonable check and balance against malicious smear campaigns.

The threat to democracy from artificial intelligence was discussed at the AI Safety Summit in November 2023, reinforcing the Government’s commitment to international collaboration on this shared challenge.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL2904
Session
2023-24
Subjects
Elections Artificial intelligence Disinformation
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk