LPolitical deepfakes are invading TikTok. Fictitious accounts like Amandine Le Pen or Léna Maréchal promote the RN.
If deepfakes are flourishing on the Internet and tend to be embedded in electoral campaigns, some are trying to take advantage of them by making a particular party the editorial line of their TikTok account. This party is the RN.
It was the RTS site that spotted these accounts. Amandine Le Pen, who amassed more than 30,000 followers on TikTok before her account was modified and ultimately banned following the publication of the article on the Swiss news site, has built a strong community on the platform. Describing herself as a “ Proud Frenchwoman » who worships « his aunt », Marine Le Pen, she decorates each of her posts (which Clubic has chosen not to share with you) with a French flag.
But one detail, and not the least: Amandine Le Pen does not exist. Worse still, many other similar accounts abound on the Chinese social network. If some only see them as parody accounts to try to make a mockery of the electoral campaign, others firmly believe in them.
Fake accounts, but real virality
Whether it’s beach vacations, luxurious getaways to the mountains or fitness sessions at home, Amandine Le Pen, 24, illustrates her idyllic daily life to her subscribers, like any influencer. His posts are generally embellished with hashtags such as “Lepen”, “Family”, “RN” and “2027”, largely alluding to the 2024 European elections.
This young blonde woman with blue eyes, who avoids speaking directly to the camera, undeniably plays on her striking resemblance to Marine Le Pen and proudly displays her adherence to the principles of the National Rally (RN). She openly expresses her admiration for Jordan Bardella, the party leader, and encourages her subscribers to join her on Telegram to discuss the RN. His videos, which attract many comments, are shared thousands of times, some even reaching more than 600,000 views.
But she’s not the only one fooling TikTok fans with what is a deepfake. Léna Maréchal’s account, created at the end of March 2024 and already followed by nearly 30,000 subscribers, also uses the image of the Le Pen family thanks to artificial intelligence. Some of her videos, very similar to those of Amandine, have been viewed more than a million times.
In her publications, this young woman encourages her subscribers to follow her “ best friends »: Rose, who claims to be 100% French, Lucia Meloni, « pure straight », or even Chloé Le Pen. The many commonalities in the background settings and clothing worn by these people suggest a common origin behind these fake accounts.
These virtual influencers, through their suggestive poses, tend to present a glamorous and rejuvenated image of the party. Some videos are accompanied by double meaning captions, often riddled with spelling mistakes: “ I hope I don’t tan too much “, Or ” No better than waking up and seeing everything is white with snow “.
The RN and Reconquest denounce, TikTok turns a deaf ear
While some easily recognize these videos as deepfakes, a large number of Internet users seem to be fooled and express their support for the parties of Marine Le Pen or Éric Zemmour in the comments. Fortunately, warnings about the misleading nature of these videos are also available in comments from subscribers who detected the deepfake.
It is also easy to detect a deepfake. As Eny Sauvêtre, co-founder of BRAIN Cybersecurity Awareness, explained, some AI-generated videos show inconsistencies between lip movements and the person’s words. A slight lag may occur. You also need to observe facial expressions. If the face appears frozen and static, it could be a fake. Some deepfakes also neglect blinking, with characters never blinking. Skin color is another clue: deepfakes have difficulty reproducing the reflection of light on human skin. Finally, differences in quality or resolution between the face and the rest of the video can betray AI-generated content.
Asked by BFMTV, the National Rally denies any association with these anonymous accounts. “ We do not produce any falsification, I am against any form of deception », declares MEP Philippe Olivier. According to him, the Le Pen family is unhappy with the use of these images, so much so that the party considered taking legal action, before finally retracting, given that they are “ in the middle of the electoral campaign “.
As the European elections approach, this phenomenon rekindles the discussion on the spread of fallacious and misleading content on TikTok and the lack of control of the application, which nevertheless committed in February 2024 to fight against disinformation on its platform. According to research conducted by NewsGuard, a company specializing in the fight against fake news, 20% of videos discussing current topics on TikTok are misleading content.
Sources: The Parisian, RTS, BFMTV, NewsGuard
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