This week, cybersecurity experts from across the country gathered at Google's Boulder campus for a summit focused on election threats.
Not only are there hundreds of races in Colorado, but at the same time half the world's population will vote this year, advances in technology will allow hacktivists to create chaos, influence public perception, and disrupt elections. It's easier than ever before.
Karen Corrington, vice president of trust and safety at Google, says 2024 is like the Super Bowl of global elections.
“At the end of the day, it's what users are seeing and whether they can trust the content they're seeing, and that's what guides our mission,” Corrington said.
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Google has partnered with the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization Defending Digital Campaigns to raise awareness about potential threats and how to counter them.
Some of those threats include deepfakes, which use artificial intelligence to imitate audio and alter videos. There are now apps that allow even unsophisticated hacktivists to create deepfakes so convincing that it's hard to tell which ones are real and which are fake.
Google was the first company to require political advertisers to disclose when they use deepfakes, and said it now uses artificial intelligence to monitor and remove non-compliant ads.
“We can not only identify and catch these things very quickly, but also prevent bad actors from showing up on the platform in the first place,” Corrington said.
Thao Nguyen Kelly, Google's head of global elections integrity, said the company also has tools to help users identify deepfakes.
“So, for example, when you search for an image on Google, you can click on that image to get additional context about where that image has been used on the internet. Especially when people are using Google for information about the election process, we want to make sure they can trust the information they're seeing,” said Gwen Kelly. Ta.
Google also equips campaigns with additional layers of security and threat detection tools.
Gwen Kelly said her company has trained 9,000 campaign workers across the country in cybersecurity strategies.
“As a company, we consider these risks holistically and are confident that our processes, policies and products are prepared to address and mitigate any risks that may be exposed to our users. I'm thinking about it,” Gwen Kelly said.
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But Corrington says it takes a village.
“This is a partnership. As a technology company, we know we can't do it alone. We know we need governments, civil society and other organizations,” Corrington said.
Congress and the Federal Trade Commission have not kept up with the pace of innovation, leaving it up to the private sector and states to put in place guardrails.
Colorado's state legislature passed a bill this year requiring disclosure about deepfakes. Otherwise, creators could face fines and lawsuits.
