TL;DR

Wakefield councillor Armaan Khan has raised the alarm over AI-generated deepfakes being used to target local election candidates. A manipulated image placed him next to a housing estate he had opposed, replacing the original open fields. The National Association of Councillors says such attacks are becoming widespread ahead of upcoming local elections.

Fabricated evidence at ward level

The attack on Khan was designed to undermine his credibility on a specific local issue. The original photograph showed open fields; the AI-altered version placed a housing development in the background, falsely suggesting Khan supported a project he had actively opposed. For voters unfamiliar with the planning details, the doctored image could easily pass as genuine.

Khan described the situation bluntly: “It is one of the first elections in this country we are having where AI is going to be dominating our local politics.” While national elections have received most of the attention in discussions about AI-generated disinformation, the tools required to create convincing fakes are now accessible enough to be deployed in ward-level contests with tiny electorates.

A pattern forming across councils

Khan’s experience is not isolated. Earlier this year, a senior York politician was targeted by a fake AI-generated video. The National Association of Councillors has described deepfake campaigning as an “underhand practice” that is growing more common, expressing concern that local candidates lack the resources or media reach to effectively counter false material before it influences voters.

Unlike MPs, who have parliamentary platforms and national media access to rebut misinformation, councillors often rely on social media and door-to-door canvassing — the same channels through which deepfakes spread most effectively.

Looking forward

Local elections present a particularly vulnerable target for AI manipulation. Smaller electorates mean fewer voters need to be deceived to change an outcome, and local media coverage is thinner, reducing the chances of rapid fact-checking. With council elections approaching across England, the gap between the sophistication of AI-generated content and the resources available to local candidates to combat it is widening. Current electoral law was not written with synthetic media in mind, and no specific protections exist for candidates targeted by AI-generated material at any level of government.