Incident 544: Deepfakes and AI-generated disinformation in the 2023 presidential elections of Turkey

Description: Allegations of deepfake technology and AI-generated disinformation have been swirling around the events of the 2023 presidential elections in Turkey.

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Alleged: unknown developed an AI system deployed by Russia , Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, which harmed Kemal Kilicdaroglu and Muharrem İnce.

Incident Stats

Incident ID
544
Report Count
22
Incident Date
2023-05-11
Editors
Daniel Atherton
Turkey’s opposition warns against deepfakes ahead of fateful elections
al-monitor.com · 2023

ANKARA --- With just 12 days to go until Turkey's fateful elections and as polls give a knife-edge lead to Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's top rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the country's main opposition suggested on Tuesday that the …

Kilicdaroglu warns of armed elements and deepfake videos ahead of his attempt to ‘retire Erdogan’
intellinews.com · 2023

Turkish opposition alliance presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has urged citizens to stay indoors if he defeats President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey’s upcoming elections to avoid the risk of confrontation with “armed elements” lo…

Erdoğan plays deepfake video at election rally to show opposition linked to terrorist group
turkishminute.com · 2023

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan shocked many during an election rally in İstanbul on Sunday when he played a deepfake video portraying the opposition as connected to a terrorist group.

Seeking to extend his two-decade-long rule in the presid…

Turkish presidential candidate quits race after release of alleged sex tape
theguardian.com · 2023

The Turkish presidential candidate Muharrem İnce withdrew from the race after the release of a purported sex tape, boosting chances of outright success for other candidates in a race that polls suggest will be close.

İnce, a two-time presid…

Erdogan’s main rival alleges Russia posting ‘deep fakes’ in lead-up to elections
timesofisrael.com · 2023

ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chief rival accused Russia on Thursday of spreading “deep fakes” ahead of this weekend’s crucial general election.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s allegations came hours after a third-party c…

Turkey's Kilicdaroglu accuses Russia of creating 'deepfakes' against opposition
al-monitor.com · 2023

ANKARA --- Turkey's main opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the top contender facing incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accused Russia on Thursday of fabricating deepfake videos with merely three days to go until the country's cri…

Big election blow for Erdogan as third candidate Ince abruptly exits contest complaining of ‘deepfake’ sex tape
intellinews.com · 2023

Kemal Kilicdaroglu on May 11 took a real shot in the arm in his bid to unseat Recep Tayyip Erdogan in this weekend’s May 14 presidential election – and Erdogan a proper kick in the teeth – when small-party contender Muharrem Ince abruptly w…

Erdogan rival says has evidence of Russia's online campaign ahead of Turkey election
reuters.com · 2023

ANKARA, May 12 (Reuters) - Kemal Kilicdaroglu, main challenger of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, said on Friday his party has concrete evidence of Russia's responsibility for the release of "deep fake" online content ahead of Sunday's pr…

AI deepfakes and disinformation loom over Turkey’s election
euronews.com · 2023

Misleading AI-generated content could swing voters, AI experts say. Sunday’s presidential election in Turkey is the first major vote to face this challenge.

Turkish Internet users were surprised to discover that Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Presiden…

Turkish government accused of using Bitcoin to fund deepfake propaganda
finbold.com · 2023

Turkey’s upcoming presidential election on Sunday, May 14, is drawing global attention as it could mark the end of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decades-long reign. To make the matter even more interesting, the Turkish current government…

DeepFake used to kill off Turkish presidential candidate’s campaign
fudzilla.com · 2023

Muharrem Ince quits

Turkish presidential candidate Muharrem Ince withdrew from the race after an alleged sex tape circulated online. Ince claims it's a deepfake using footage from "an Israeli porn site."

Ince, a two-time presidential candid…

Deepfakes, porn tapes, bots: How AI has shaped a vital NATO ally's presidential election
foxnews.com · 2023

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political opponent accused Russia of using deepfakes and other artificial intelligence (AI)-generated material to meddle in the country’s upcoming presidential election. 

"The Russians have a ve…

Erdogan's Rival Blames Russia for Turkey Deepfakes: 'Election Meddling'
newsweek.com · 2023

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the opposition candidate in the Turkish presidential election, has blamed Russia for alleged interference in the democratic process ahead of Sunday's vote.

With the presidential race heating up—and the incumbent Recep Ta…

Kremlin 'strongly' denies Kılıçdaroğlu's accusations of meddling in vote
hurriyetdailynews.com · 2023

The Kremlin on May 12 denied it was meddling in Türkiye's presidential election campaign, after Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's main rival accused Moscow of spreading "deep fakes" targeting him.

"We strongly reject such statements," K…

Turkey’s opposition accuses Russia of interfering in elections
aljazeera.com · 2023

Turkey’s main opposition candidate has accused Russia of interfering in the country’s elections days before the crucial vote.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who is challenging Turkey’s longtime leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sunday’s presidential ball…

The Turkish deepfake porn video could change the future of elections
telegraph.co.uk · 2023

For months he had stubbornly resisted calls to step aside and make way for Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the man seeking to become Turkey's next president at too-close-to-call elections on Sunday 14 May. But then, on Thursday, so late in the day that…

Turkey’s deepfake-influenced election spells trouble
fortune.com · 2023

Yesterday’s election in Turkey was momentous for a variety of reasons, with major implications for regional geopolitics and the domestic economy. But historians will remember these polls for one thing in particular: the role of tech-powered…

How to fake it till you make it
spectator.co.uk · 2023

Not to sound too much like Kamala Harris during one of her peregrinations on the nature of time, but the thing about the future is that it catches up with you awfully fast.

For a while we have been warned about the dangers of artificial int…

Turkish opposition party exposes government’s alleged deepfake plot, Bitcoin payments involved
coinmarketcap.com · 2023

In a shocking twist leading up to Turkey’s highly anticipated presidential election, concerns over the use of deepfake propaganda have taken center stage. Tuncay Özkan, chairman of the Turkish opposition party (CHP), has made startling clai…

Fact check: Turkey's Erdogan shows false Kilicdaroglu video
dw.com · 2023

Only days before Turkey's key parliamentary and presidential election, which has been described as the most important vote in the world this year, one video is stirring significant controversy.

The video was presented by President Recep Tay…

Turkey Elections: Deepfakes, disinformation ‘misdirect’ voters ahead of runoff
al-monitor.com · 2023

ISTANBUL --- Claims and counterclaims, montaged videos and even fake sex tapes have blighted Turkey's elections, leaving fact-checkers battling to unravel a mass of disinformation during the campaign. 

Voters return to the polling booths fo…

Deepfakes, Cheapfakes, and Twitter Censorship Mar Turkey’s Elections
wired.com · 2023

ON THE EVENING of Turkey's most significant elections of the past two decades, Can Semercioğlu went to bed early. For the past seven years, Semercioğlu has worked for Teyit, the largest independent fact-checking group in Turkey, but that Su…

Variants

A "variant" is an incident that shares the same causative factors, produces similar harms, and involves the same intelligent systems as a known AI incident. Rather than index variants as entirely separate incidents, we list variations of incidents under the first similar incident submitted to the database. Unlike other submission types to the incident database, variants are not required to have reporting in evidence external to the Incident Database. Learn more from the research paper.