The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has drafted a set of amendments to the 2023 codes of conduct for political parties, media organisations and election observers, aimed at preventing the misuse of artificial intelligence during elections.
According to ECP sources, the draft contains five changes for media organisations, five for political parties and candidates, and three for election observers. The commission has invited the public and stakeholders to submit feedback by November 20. The proposals seek to regulate AI-generated content, ban deceptive deepfakes and bring transparency to election-related communication.
Under the proposed media rules, outlets must clearly disclose whenever they broadcast, publish or release content created or altered through AI. The draft forbids the use of deepfake technology to fabricate the images, voices or statements of party leaders, candidates, election officials, judges, armed forces personnel and other state officials where such content is false, defamatory or meant to ridicule. Media houses may still use AI for preparing, translating, presenting or analysing election coverage, provided they inform their audiences and remain answerable for the accuracy and authenticity of the material. They would also be required to promptly remove or correctly relabel misleading or undisclosed AI content when directed by the ECP or a regulator.
PEMRA, the Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency would monitor unlabelled AI content and report violations to the ECP for action.
Election observers would be required to watch for AI-related manipulation and report it to the commission at once. They would be barred from using AI to create, alter or enhance their findings, photographs, videos or reports.
For political parties and candidates, the draft prohibits distributing AI-generated or manipulated content, including deepfake images, videos and audio, without a clear label. It bans material designed to deceive voters by falsely portraying a person’s image, words or actions, and outlaws fabricated or defamatory deepfakes of political and state figures. Parties and candidates must preserve all AI content produced during the election process. The use of bots and automated accounts to manipulate engagement or manufacture fake trends would be prohibited, while robocalls and voice-cloned messages would have to declare at the outset that they are AI-generated.
The commission says the changes are intended to strengthen transparency and accountability in campaigning and media coverage, and to address the growing threat of fabricated digital content and AI-driven voter manipulation.
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