Manipulated Realities: Deepfakes and the Erosion of Political Tolerance in Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/qjss.vi-i.25335Keywords:
Deepfake, AI-generated, Pakistan, Technology, Intolerance, PoliticalAbstract
This article evaluates how deepfake technology contributes to increased political intolerance throughout Pakistan. Deepfakes function as forceful political manipulation weapons because of the extreme expansion of digital media with AI-generated content, which causes social differences to increase and truths to become distorted information spreaders, confirming existing biases while harming leadership trust and creating The political climate of Pakistan, fostering the transformation of deepfake films to weaponize political attacks against opponents while bolstering opposing propaganda because partisan affiliations among locals already skew their political perspectives. The paper demonstrates the speed of wordless, emotionally manipulated false information that travels swiftly across social media filters, which gradually replace analytical thinking with impulsive responses. Data from this study shows that Pakistan needs media literacy along with regulatory knowledge and ethical technology practices to prevent deepfakes from damaging political tolerance and democratic conversation in the nation.
References
Agarwal, S., Farid, H., Gu, Y., He, M., Nagano, K., & Li, H. (2019, June). Protecting world leaders against deepfakes. In CVPR workshops (Vol. 1, No. 38).
Citron, D. K., & Chesney, R. (2019). Deep Fakes: a looming challenge for privacy, democracy, and national security. Scholarly Commons at Boston University School of Law, 4(3), 183 –193. https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/640
Debroy, O. (2024). Psycho-social Impact of Deepfake Content in Entertainment Media. International journal for innovative research in multidisciplinary field, 10(5), 235- 249. http://dx.doi.org/10.2015/IJIRMF/202405032
Dobrobaba, M. B. (2022). Deepfakes as a threat to human rights. Lex russica, 75(11), 112-119. https://doi.org/10.17803/1729-5920.2022.192.11.112-119
Fallis, D. (2021). The Epistemic Threat of Deepfakes. Philosophy & Technology, 34(4), 623– 643. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13347-020-00419-2
Ghous, H., Malik, M., & Ismail, M. (2023). Review on deepfake video detection techniques. Southern Journal of Research, 3(2), 33–41. https://doi.org/10.20021/sjr.v3i2.70
Haider, J. (2024). Deconstructing deepfakes: Ethical implications and mitigating strategies in a post-truth world. Journal of Media Horizons, 4(4), 1–14.
Henry, N. &. Flynn, (2019). Image-Based Sexual Abuse: Online Distribution Channels and Illicit Communities of Support. Sega Journal, 25(16), 1932–1955. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801219863881
Imran, H., & Maqsood, M. (2025). Deepfake deception and the need for media literacy in Pakistan. Academic Journal of Social Sciences, 8(2).
Islam, M. B. E., Haseeb, M., Batool, H., Ahtasham, N., & Muhammad, Z. (2024). AI threats to politics, elections, and democracy: A blockchain-based deepfake authenticity verification framework. Blockchains, 2(4), 458-481. https://doi.org/10.3390/blockchains2040020
Jimoh, M. (2023). The right to democratic participation in Africa in the era of Deepfake. Pretoria Student Law Review (2023) Vol, 17, 106. https://ssrn.com/abstract=4834393
Kietzmann, J., Lee, L. W., McCarthy, I. P., & Kietzmann, T. C. (2020). Deepfakes: Trick or treat? Business Horizons, 63(2), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.11.006
Kwok, A. O. J., & Koh, S. G. M. (2021). Deepfake: a social construction of technology perspective. Current Issues in Tourism, 24(13), 1798–1802. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1738357
