Deepfakes and disinformation swirl ahead of Indonesian election

Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, goes to the polls on February 14 to elect a new president. It’s one of the largest elections to take place since an explosion of generative AI tools became available that can manipulate video and audio – and a number of deepfake videos have gone viral during the campaign.

In this episode, we look at what Indonesia’s experience is revealing about the disinformation battleground ahead in 2024, when an estimated four billion voters will be eligible to vote in an election. 

Featuring F.X. Lilik Dwi Mardjianto, a journalism researcher at Universitas Multimedia Nusantara in Inodnesia and Nuurrianti Jalli, assistant professor of Professional Practice, School of Media and Strategic Communications, Oklahoma State University in the US.

This episode of The Conversation Weekly was written and produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware with assistance from Katie Flood. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. Full credits available here. A transcript will be available shortly. Sign up to a free daily newsletter from The Conversation.

Further reading and listening:

• Indonesia’s presidential election may go to run-off, despite what the polls say
• Fake Biden robocall to New Hampshire voters highlights how easy it is to make deepfakes − and how hard it is to defend against AI-generated disinformation
• Disinformation is often blamed for swaying elections – the research says something else