DocumentedDeepfake Political DisinformationFebruary 2, 2024Indonesia

AI 'Resurrects' Suharto for Indonesia 2024 Election Campaign

Less than two weeks before Indonesia's 14 February 2024 presidential election, an AI-generated deepfake video of long-deceased dictator Suharto, who died in 2008, circulated on X. The synthetic Suharto told viewers, 'I am President Suharto, the second president of Indonesia, inviting you to elect representatives of the people from Golkar.' The Golkar Party, which backed eventual winner Prabowo Subianto (Suharto's former son-in-law), distributed the video as part of its official campaign.

AI system:Generative AI face and voice clone

Impact

The video racked up 4.2 million views and roughly 1,200 comments in five days. Civil-society groups including SAFEnet and Mafindo flagged it as an exemplary case of AI-driven manipulation in the Asia-Pacific region. Prabowo Subianto won the presidency.

Outcome

No regulatory action was taken against Golkar. The case became a leading reference in Asia-Pacific election-integrity debates and is catalogued by the OECD AI Incidents Monitor and the AI Incident Database (Incident 669).

Sources

  1. Source 1CNNwww.cnn.com/2024/02/12/asia/suharto-deepfake-ai-scam-indonesia-election-hnk-intl
  2. Source 2BenarNewswww.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/suharto-deepfake-used-in-election-campaign-01122024135217.html
  3. Source 3The Conversationtheconversation.com/deepfakes-and-disinformation-swirl-ahead-of-indonesian-election-podcast-223119
  4. Source 4AI Incident Databaseincidentdatabase.ai/cite/669/

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