Microsoft and Meta Announce Measures to Combat Election Disinformation, AI-Generated Content in 2024

Microsoft to Implement Digital Watermarking and Meta to Mandate Advertiser Disclosure of AI-Altered Content Amid Increasing Concerns of AI-Generated Disinformation in Global Elections.

Microsoft and Meta have announced measures to counter election disinformation in 2024. Microsoft is set to roll out a Content Credentials service, enabling watermarking of images and videos to display the origin and editing history, including AI involvement. The feature will initially be available only to political campaigns in Spring 2024.
Meta will mandate advertisers to disclose any AI-created or altered content in their ads. This policy applies to imagery or audio that depicts real persons or events deceptively and will go into effect globally in 2024.
To help navigate AI and cybersecurity challenges, Microsoft is forming a 'Campaign Success Team' that will support and advise political campaigns. Also, an 'Election Communications Hub' will offer security support to election authorities.
Despite these initiatives, there remain concerns about the enforcement of new rules, with Microsoft yet to clarify how it intends to police the spread of misinformation through its platforms, and Meta planning to rely on 'independent fact-checking partners'.
Microsoft is advocating for legislative and legal changes to guard electoral processes from deepfakes and misuse of new technologies, such as its backing for the 'Protect Elections from Deceptive AI Act' in the US Senate. Moreover, it aims to ensure 'reputable sites' surface in Bing queries about election administration.