ECP Proposes AI Rules: No Deepfakes, Fake Trends or Hidden AI Ads in Pakistan Elections

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has proposed strict new rules to stop political parties and candidates from using artificial intelligence to deceive voters. Under the proposed amendments to the Code of Conduct for Political Parties, parties, candidates, election agents and their supporters would be barred from creating or sharing AI-generated or manipulated material likely to mislead voters about what a person said, did or looks like. Any campaign material made or heavily altered by AI, including deepfake images, videos, audio clips and synthetic voices, would have to carry a clear and visible label saying it is AI-generated or AI-assisted.

The draft goes further on the worst abuses. It strictly bans deepfakes that create false, insulting or defamatory versions of candidates, party leaders, supporters, election officials, judges, armed forces personnel or other state officials. Parties would also be banned from using AI bots and automated accounts to manufacture fake trends, likes, comments, shares and followers, and any AI robocall or voice-cloned message would have to say at the very start that it was AI-generated. Campaigns would have to keep records of all AI content used and hand over full details to the ECP when asked.

The rules would also reach the media. Newspapers, TV channels, journalists and social media influencers would have to label AI-made or edited election content when it is aired, published or shared, and misleading or undisclosed AI content would have to be removed or corrected when the ECP or a regulator directs it. Election observers, too, would have to watch for AI manipulation and report it, and would be barred from using AI to alter their own findings. The proposals are still draft amendments, not final law, but they signal how seriously Pakistan's election watchdog is taking AI in the next campaign.

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