Over 100 Deep-Faked Rishi Sunak Ads Found on Meta’s Platform

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Over 100 deep-fake video advertisements impersonating Prime Minister Rishi Sunak were paid to be promoted on Meta’s platform in the last month.

• These ads may have reached over 400,000 people, despite explicitly breaking several of Meta’s ad policies.
  
  

• 143 individual ads were uncovered and up to £12,929 has been spent on these advertisements in the last month alone (December 8th 2023 - January 8th 2024).
  

• Funding for the ads originates from 23 different countries including Turkey, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States.
  

• It appears to be the first widespread paid promotion of a deep-faked video of a UK political figure.
  

• This is likely to be the first of many AI-enhanced misinformation campaigns of 2024, raising questions about social media platform’s ability to moderate election interference at scale.

RESEARCH AND WRITING: MARCUS BEARD
CONTACT: marcus@fenimoreharper.com / +44 7 809 323 683

ABOUT: Fenimore Harper is a media insight and research firm. It was founded in 2021 by Marcus Beard, after working as a communications adviser at HM Treasury, Cabinet Office and 10 Downing Street.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Marcus led the UK Government's digital counter-misinformation strategy. Working internationally, he advised partners such as NATO, the G7 and the governments of Ukraine, Bulgaria and North Macedonia.

Marcus' writing and research has appeared in The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Guardian, and Bloomberg. He has also provided political commentary for BBC News and Sky News.