Foreign network uses AI deepfakes to impersonate Australian politicians on Facebook

Reset Tech’s research uncovered a coordinated network of roughly 200 Facebook pages that fabricate short AI-generated clips portraying Australian politicians saying provocative statements. The pages, many named with patriotic-sounding titles, have been linked to an influencer business based in Sri Lanka and operate under a monetisation scheme that pays page owners for engagement. Approximately ten percent of the pages generate revenue, while the content frequently exploits anti-immigration, anti-Muslim or sexualised narratives to draw user interaction.

Targets have included Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, opposition leader Angus Taylor, Pauline Hanson, Senator Fatima Payman, Senator David Pocock and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, with some posts garnering hundreds of reactions and no clear disclosure of their synthetic nature. The researchers noted that only a minority of the posts carry AI labels or have been removed, highlighting gaps in platform enforcement. They warn that such “AI slopaganda” threatens democratic discourse by spreading false statements at scale.