Prohibiting Political Deepfakes in Election Campaigns Based on the Principles of Honest and Fair Elections
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article examines the need to prohibit manipulative political deepfakes in Indonesian election campaigns and formulates a regulatory model aligned with the principles of honest and fair elections. This normative legal research uses statutory, conceptual, and case approaches to analyze existing regulatory gaps. The results indicate that current legal instruments, such as the Election Law, the Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, and electoral management body regulations, remain partial. These regulations lack specific operational mechanisms to address artificial intelligence (AI)-based identity manipulation that significantly threatens electoral integrity and voter autonomy. As an implication and answer to these issues, this study proposes a more proportionate legal framework. The proposed model includes a specific prohibition on political identity falsification, mandatory AI content labeling, rapid clarification and content removal mechanisms, and institutional coordination guidelines among the KPU, Bawaslu, Kominfo, and digital platforms. The implementation of this model strengthens legal certainty in responding to digital disinformation in a measured manner, ensuring that the purity of voter intent remains protected without suppressing freedom of expression, such as legitimate satire.
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
Akmaliah, Wahyudi. "Bukan Sekedar Penggaung (Buzzers): Media Sosial dan Transformasi Arena Politik." Maarif 13, no. 1 (2018): 9-25. https://doi.org/10.47651/mrf.v13i1.9.
Anggraeni, Inez. “Deepfakes, Trust, and Electoral Integrity: The Emerging Threat to Indonesian Democracy.” Indonesian Discourse on Communication, Democracy, and Political Movements 2, no. 4 (2025). https://doi.org/10.65815/zrkx7164.
Arianto, Bambang. "Kontestasi Buzzer Politik dalam Langgam Politik Digital." MASSIVE: Jurnal Ilmu Komunikasi 2, no. 2 (2022): 28-42. https://doi.org/10.35842/massive.v2i2.77.
Arianto, Bambang. "Salah Kaprah Ihwal Buzzer: Analisis Percakapan Warganet di Media Sosial." JIIP: Jurnal Ilmiah Ilmu Pemerintahan 5, no. 1 (2020): 1-20. https://doi.org/10.14710/jiip.v5i1.7287.
Carvajal, Laura, and Andrew Iliadis. “Deepfakes: A Preliminary Systematic Review of the Literature.” Selected Papers of Internet Research (2020). https://doi.org/10.5210/spir.v2020i0.11190.
Chesney, Robert, and Danielle Citron. "Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security." California Law Review 107, no. 6 (2019): 1753-1820. https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38RV0D15J.
Dobber, Tom, Nadia Metoui, Damian Trilling, Natali Helberger, and Claes de Vreese. “Do (Microtargeted) Deepfakes Have Real Effects on Political Attitudes?” International Journal of Press/Politics 26, no. 1 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161220944364.
Fahmi, Khairul, Feri Amsari, Busyra Azheri, and Muhammad Ichsan Kabullah. "Sistem Keadilan Pemilu dalam Penanganan Pelanggaran dan Sengketa Proses Pemilu Serentak 2019 di Sumatera Barat." Jurnal Konstitusi 17, no. 1 (2020): 1-26. https://doi.org/10.31078/jk1711.
Fahrudin, Atef, and Syamsul Arif Billah. "Modeling Manajemen Informasi dan Verifikasi Berita Menjelang Pemilu dan Pemilihan 2024: Sebuah Studi Preliminary tentang Upaya Mencegah Black Campaign dan Hoax." Electoral Governance: Jurnal Tata Kelola Pemilu Indonesia 4, no. 2 (2023): 212-232. https://doi.org/10.46874/tkp.v4i2.672.
Hidayat, Rayhan Naufaldi. "Penggunaan Buzzer Politik di Media Sosial pada Masa Kampanya Pemilihan Umum." ADALAH 4, no. 2 (2020): 29-38. https://doi.org/10.15408/adalah.v4i2.15606.
Irvan, Rachmat, and Junet Hariyo Setiawan. “Criminalization Policy of Deepfake in Indonesian Elections.” Constitutional Law Society 5, no. 1 (2026). https://doi.org/10.36448/jcls.v5i1.125.
Iswara, A. A. "Hoaks Satire sebagai Cyberbullying dalam Konteks Isu Politik." Jurnal Pekommas 6, no. 2 (2021): 65-74. https://doi.org/10.30818/jpkm.2021.2060207.
Juditha, Christiany. "Interaksi Komunikasi Hoax di Media Sosial serta Antisipasinya." Jurnal Pekommas 3, no. 1 (2018): 31-44. https://doi.org/10.30818/jpkm.2018.2030104.
Kruschinski, Simon, and Fabio Votta. “Efficiency Tool or Manipulation Machine? Assessing Dominant Claims about the Quantity, Quality, and Persuasive Power of Visual Generative AI in Political Campaigns.” Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 36 (2026): 79–89. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41358-026-00457-w.
Momeni, Mina. “Artificial Intelligence and Political Deepfakes: Shaping Citizen Perceptions Through Misinformation.” Journal of Creative Communications 20, no. 1 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1177/09732586241277335.
Neyazi, Taberez Ahmed, Tan Khai Ee, and Ozan Kuru. “Campaign Deepfakes and Affective Polarization: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Campaigns in Shaping Voter Attitudes.” Social Science Computer Review (2025). https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251362247.
Pawelec, Maria. "Deepfakes and Democracy (Theory): How Synthetic Audio-Visual Media for Disinformation and Hate Speech Threaten Core Democratic Functions." Digital Society 1 (2022): 1-37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44206-022-00010-6.
Putra, Ariandi. "Peran Buzzer Politik dalam Dinamika Jelang Pemilu Tahun 2024." SALAM: Jurnal Sosial dan Budaya Syar-i 10, no. 4 (2023): 1143-1158. https://doi.org/10.15408/sjsbs.v10i4.34076.
Rahman, Rofi Aulia, and Rizaldy Anggriawan. "Deepfake and Electoral Crimes: Criminal Law Perspectives from Indonesia, India, Pakistan, and the U.S." Indonesian Comparative Law Review 7, no. 2 (2025): 1-21. https://doi.org/10.18196/iclr.v7i2.26337.
Shukla, Anmol K. "AI-Generated Misinformation in the Election Year 2024." Frontiers in Political Science 6 (2024): 1-9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2024.1451601.
Tolosana, Ruben, Ruben Vera-Rodriguez, Julian Fierrez, Aythami Morales, and Javier Ortega-Garcia. "Deepfakes and Beyond: A Survey of Face Manipulation and Fake Detection." Information Fusion 64 (2020): 131-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inffus.2020.06.014.
Vaccari, Cristian, and Andrew Chadwick. “Deepfakes and Disinformation: Exploring the Impact of Synthetic Political Video on Deception, Uncertainty, and Trust in News.” Social Media + Society 6, no. 1 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120903408.
Zhang, Bingbing, Sang Jung Kim, and Alex Scott. “Immunizing the Public Against AI-Generated Disinformation: Testing the Effects of Inoculation Mode and Issue Attitude on Inoculation Likelihood of Political Deepfakes.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 102, no. 4 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990251357949.
Łabuz, Mateusz, and Christopher Nehring. “On the Way to Deep Fake Democracy? Deep Fakes in Election Campaigns in 2023.” European Political Science 23 (2024): 454–473. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41304-024-00482-9.
Łabuz, Mateusz. “Political Advertising with the Use of Deep Fakes—Can Deliberative Democracy Really Benefit from This Strategy?” Politics & Policy (2025). https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.70035.
Primary Legal Materials
Badan Pengawas Pemilihan Umum Republik Indonesia. Peraturan Bawaslu Nomor 11 Tahun 2023 tentang Pengawasan Kampanye Pemilihan Umum.
European Parliament and Council of the European Union. Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 Laying Down Harmonised Rules on Artificial Intelligence. 13 June 2024.
Komisi Pemilihan Umum Republik Indonesia. Peraturan KPU Nomor 15 Tahun 2023 tentang Kampanye Pemilihan Umum.
Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia. Putusan Nomor 166/PUU-XXI/2023. 2024.
Republik Indonesia. Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945.
Republik Indonesia. Undang-Undang Nomor 1 Tahun 2024 tentang Perubahan Kedua atas Undang-Undang Nomor 11 Tahun 2008 tentang Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik.
Republik Indonesia. Undang-Undang Nomor 27 Tahun 2022 tentang Perlindungan Data Pribadi.
Republik Indonesia. Undang-Undang Nomor 7 Tahun 2017 tentang Pemilihan Umum.