The Federal Government's action plan to combat deepfakes was presented in the Council of Ministers on May 25, 2022. The action plan against this modern form of disinformation was drawn up interministerially and will now be presented to the National Council.
Digitalization and technological progress have fundamentally changed our lives over the last 20 years and are also our best chance of mastering the challenges of the future. At the same time, digitalization also poses risks – for our security, our society and our democracy. Back in 2020, Austria was one of the first countries in Europe to take an important measure against hatred online and for respectful interaction with one another with the Communication Platforms Act. With the expansion of technological possibilities, so-called “deepfakes” as a new form of disinformation have become increasingly widespread on the Internet in recent years. For example, people from business or politics are deceptively retouched using digital manipulation in situations they were never in. The aim is to harm these people or blackmail them.
“The digitalization of our society, which has accelerated due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is leading to a rapid increase in so-called deepfakes. Deepfakes by key people in politics or business pose a significant security policy risk because the identification of artificial influence is difficult to prove or understand,” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner on the occasion of the presentation of the action plan.
In order to combat deepfakes even more effectively in the future, an interministerial task force was set up at the end of 2020 under the leadership of the Ministry of the Interior, in which the Federal Chancellery, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are also involved. An action plan against deepfakes was drawn up together, which is now available and provides for four fields of action: “Structures and processes”, “Governance”, “Research and development” and “International cooperation”. “This will allow us to combat deepfakes even more specifically and effectively in the future. Because our goal is clear: pull the plug on disinformation and hatred online,” says the Interior Minister.
The action plan can be accessed in full via the link below.
Documents:
- Deepfakes action plan (264 KB)
Source: Federal Ministry of the Interior
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