In its review of the Sweden Democrats’ communications department, Cold Facts was able to confirm 23 accounts controlled from the party’s troll factory, which among other things spread misleading information about political opponents.
But after taking a job in the party, Kalla Fakta can show that SD, with the help of artificial intelligence, can make its political opponents say things they have never said.
And among the material published on the Sweden Democrats’ troll accounts, it appears that the party has started making deepfakes of the Social Democrats’ party leader Magdalena Andersson.
“Are you accusing Rawa Majid?”
In one clip, Magdalena Andersson stands in the Riksdag’s rostrum. There, the words Jamal El-Haj have been exchanged for a leader of a criminal network.
“Mr. Speaker, Ulf Kristersson, are you accusing Rawa Majid of being a Kurdish fox?”, she says in the clip.
When Kalla fakta has analyzed the audio with advanced tools and in consultation with an expert, we can see that the words “Rawa Majid” and “Kurdish fox” are created with AI and then clipped.
The same applies to another clip where Magdalena Andersson speaks German.
“Together we can destroy Sweden”
The party also spreads clips garbled without AI, and from other accounts, where opponents’ messages are distorted and ridiculed.
“We will ruthlessly take money out of welfare. More money will be required of you. We can crack the whole country. Together we can destroy our Sweden”, says Magdalena Andersson in a clip that was spread from one of SD’s troll accounts.
In another clip, with the help of AI, the creator has made the opposition leader speak in German, when in the original clip she actually speaks Swedish.
Cold facts has asked the Sweden Democrats to comment on the use of deepfakes on their troll accounts, but they have not returned with an answer.
“Genuinely unpleasant”
Lena Hallengren, the Social Democrats’ group leader, takes the Sweden Democrats’ actions seriously.
– If the Sweden Democrats have only just started and themselves do not think this is something serious, I think it feels genuinely unpleasant. Who should know what to trust? How can we ensure that films, material and interviews are real?, says Lena Hallengren.
– Hopefully quite a few Swedes think it’s awful. How is anyone supposed to know what is right and wrong and true and false if you can’t even trust pictures and words? But that is what we need to rise to, she continues.