WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government is considering expanding its election law to ban disinformation about election workers, the electoral system and more.
Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said Monday he's especially concerned about artificial intelligence and so-called "deepfake" videos that can make people appear to say or do things they didn't.
"It's pretty unreal what can be done, and how easily maybe it can be done," Wiebe said.
"In the past, there maybe always was an opportunity to fake some things, but now the technology has made it so much easier to do."
The provincial Elections Act already bans people from disseminating false information about candidates, impersonating election officials and more. Penalties include up to a $10,000 fine and a year in jail.
Manitoba's chief electoral officer, Shipra Verma, has said the law should be expanded to also ban, during the period leading up to an election, objectively false information about election officials, the electoral process, the equipment used in elections and more.
False information about voter eligibility and voter registration processes should also be banned, as well as any forged material that falsely claims to be from a candidate, an election official or a political party, Verma wrote in the recent annual report from Elections Manitoba.
"We consider that we need to make our legislation stronger to protect Manitobans ... so that election integrity is not compromised through the use of disinformation, misinformation,"...
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