Far-right used artificial intelligence to get its message across during campaign

The NGO AI Forensics reveals that far-right parties used AI to propagate their anti-immigration and anti-Europe messages during the European and legislative elections campaign.

The far right has used artificial intelligence for its European and legislative campaign, according to a report published on Thursday, July 4, by the European NGO AI Forensics.

These independent researchers analyzed the content published online by 38 parties and coalitions in France: texts, images, videos, etc. And their observation is that AI, although still little used by candidates as a whole, is mainly exploited by the far right.

Between 1^er May and June 28, AI Forensics identified 51 images generated by artificial intelligence and shared on Facebook, Instagram and X. 33 were published by Reconquête, 7 by the National Rally and 9 by Les Patriotes, Florian Philippot’s party. The NGO also identified an image for L’Alliance Rurale, by Jean Lassalle, and one for the Union of Democrats and Independents, founded by Jean-Louis Borloo.

We found:
51 instances of AI-generated imagery on Facebook, Instagram, and X by Rassemblement National, Reconquête, and Les Patriotes.

The images dramatized party-specific narratives, especially anti-EU & anti-immigrant messages, creating emotionally charged content.

— AI Forensics (@aiforensics_org) July 4, 2024

But what the researchers explain is that at the RN, Reconquête and Les Patriotes, the use of artificial intelligence is a campaign strategy. The message of these images generated by AI is clear: anti-immigration and anti-Europe message.

In the visuals published by the National Rally, we see a boat docking on a beach and from which hordes of refugees disembark. In Reconquête, it is a mass of men with backpacks walking on a country road. These look like real photos whose colors have been saturated, but on closer inspection, we realize that sometimes a hand is missing from a silhouette.

🔴 #Can’tWaitForJune9 to put an end to the migratory chaos organized by this lax European Union.

🚧 With Jordan Bardella: borders, FAST!

➡️ https://t.co/gB1dZOuw0Q#Event pic.twitter.com/A4x6f95HjZ

— Europe Without Them 🇫🇷 (@LEuropeSansEux) May 23, 2024

Sensationalist content accompanied by unequivocal messages: “Stop mass immigration” Or “Stop the migratory submersion”. At the center of these fake photos appear the faces – generated by AI – of Emmanuel Macron and Ursula Von Der Leyen, all flanked by the slogan “Europe without them”.

Another montage, shared by the National Rally, places the European Commission at the centre of a city where chaos reigns: dark skies, clouds of smoke and streets strewn with rubbish. Images which clearly surf on fears and play on emotions.

The impact of these images on votes remains difficult to measure. But researchers deplore that people seeing this content do not seem to realize that it was generated by AI. The NGO also notes that neither Reconquête, nor the RN, nor the Patriotes, have been transparent about the method used. And this goes against the code of conduct signed, well before the legislative elections, by all the parties, as part of the European campaign. They had all committed to labeling the texts and images produced with AI.