Reform candidate 'accidentally' shares fake AI video of a Muslim man
Reform UK has responded after one of its Portsmouth candidates shared a fake street interview of a Muslim man generated by artificial intelligence.
On 4 May, John Hill, Reform UK candidate for Eastney and Craneswater, shared an AI-generated video of a fake street interview created by the Facebook page Paws and Whiskers.
The man depicted in the video appears to be a Muslim man wearing religious clothing and standing outside the Houses of Parliament.
In the fake video, the man criticises aspects of British culture and states they “need to change to suit us” and “we will stand up for our rights”. The computer-generated man in the video makes claims that pork and dogs are offensive to Muslims.
Mr Hill shared the video, made by the Facebook page Paws and Whiskers, with the caption “6.5% of the population”.
The video was heavily criticised online, with individuals and pages describing it as content intentionally designed to provoke anger, otherwise known as rage bait.
Some viewed the video as an attempt to incite Islamophobic anger, suggesting it portrays Islam or Muslims as incompatible with, or hostile towards, British culture.
John Hill said: “As a man in his 70s and a self confessed technophobe I was absolutely horrified when I received a call to tell me I had shared a fake AI video on my Facebook page without any knowledge of this.
“Unfortunately I get confused with how the phones work and I was sent this video by someone I know and thought I was responding to him but it appears I shared it instead.
“Left wing agitators will attempt to read into this and slam me and Reform UK as it’s the day before election. But the reality is it was a genuine error with no reflection of how I feel about our local Muslim population.
“What we need to discuss is the terrible misuse of AI by third party people to spread misinformation across social media. We need law change to strengthen and stop this.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted Paws and Whiskers, a Facebook page that describes itself as sharing “real UK street interviews” with “real people” and “real opinions” from the “streets of Britain”.
Most, if not all, of the content on the page appears to be AI-generated.
A spokesperson for the page said the content is “intended as commentary and discussion-based media content” made for “entertainment purposes” and should not be interpreted as “factual reporting of real individuals”.
The page declined to clarify whether it is operated by British nationals, although its listed address is in the United States.