Purportedly AI-Manipulated Video Reportedly Misrepresented Bulgarian DPS Figure Ahmed Dogan and Spread via TikTok and Facebook

A reportedly AI-manipulated video appeared to repurpose footage of Ahmed Dogan, honorary chairman of Bulgaria's Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), by overlaying synthetic audio that made him seem to urge party members to protest in defense of his wealth. The clip reportedly originated from a satirical TikTok account and was later circulated on Facebook by anonymous profiles.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.1 Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale

The deepfake video was used in a coordinated manner across social media platforms to manipulate political discourse and influence public opinion during an internal party conflict.

Causal factors

• Entity: Human
• Intent: Intentional
• Timing: Post-deployment

The incident was caused by human actors who intentionally generated and distributed a deepfake video of a politician using deployed AI voice generation tools.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3. Limited Risk: The incident involves AI-generated content (a deepfake), which poses a moderate risk and is subject to transparency obligations under the EU AI Act.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: None named
• AI purpose: Voice Generation; Deepfake Video Generation
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Unknown voice cloning technology developers, Unknown deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: Unknown disinformation actors, Metodi Stoychev, Georgi Georgiev, Anonymous TikTok satire profile
• Alleged harmed parties: General public of Bulgaria, General public, Epistemic integrity, Ahmed Dogan

Harm severity

Severity ratings are based on this scale.

Highest direct severity in any category: Minor. Severity is scored from Negligible to Catastrophic in each harm category, for harm the reports describe as caused directly or indirectly by the AI system.

• Physical: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Infrastructure: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Property: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Financial: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Environmental: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Malicious content: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Differential treatment: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Civil rights: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Democracy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Privacy: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Psychological: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible
• Epistemic: direct Minor, indirect Negligible
• Child sexual exploitation and abuse: direct Negligible, indirect Negligible

Malicious content

Reported: Yes, the report describes the creation and spread of a deepfake video with AI-generated audio.

Directly caused: The deepfake video was created and shared on TikTok and Facebook.

Inferred additional harm: It is likely that the video reached thousands of social media users before being flagged as a deepfake.

Epistemic

Reported: Yes, the report describes the creation and dissemination of a deepfake video containing fabricated audio of a politician.

Directly caused: The video falsely claimed Ahmed Dogan called on members to protest to protect his wealth.

Inferred additional harm: This contributes to the erosion of shared truth and increases public skepticism toward authentic political media.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 1
• People reportedly exposed: 100

Potential causes

Technology

• AI Audio Generation: AI was used to generate realistic synthetic audio of the politician's voice.
• Deepfake Video Overlay: Synthetic audio was overlaid on authentic video footage from a party meeting.

Data Inputs

• Authentic Video Footage: Real footage from the DPS meeting on August 27 2024 was used as the base.

Human Factors

• Malicious Dissemination: Anonymous profiles shared the deepfake to influence political DPS factions.
• Satirical Creation: A satirical TikTok account initially created and shared the deepfake video.

Process and Methods

• Anonymous Account Creation: Platforms allowed fake profiles with stock photos to share content.
• Lack of Platform Filtering: TikTok and Facebook failed to detect and label the deepfake audio promptly.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The fact-checking report provides clear and verified details about the creation, content, and dissemination of the deepfake video, as well as the political context surrounding it.
• Ambiguities identified: The specific AI model or platform used to generate the synthetic voice is not identified in the report.
• Alternative interpretations: None. The video is clearly identified as a politically motivated deepfake.

An AI-generated voice clone was used to create a deepfake of Bulgarian politician Ahmed Dogan, falsely depicting him calling for protests. While the incident represents a concerning use of synthetic media to manipulate political discourse during an internal party conflict, its national security impact remains minor as it was quickly debunked and did not cause widespread instability.

• Overall national security impact: Minor
• Scope: Single nation
• Primary target: Bulgaria
• Alleged perpetrator: Unknown

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. Represents an ongoing strategic concern regarding the use of synthetic media in political campaigns rather than an active, immediate crisis.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI voice generation tool was fully controlled and directed by human actors to create the synthetic audio.
• Novelty: Established threat. The use of AI-cloned voices and deepfakes to target political figures is an established threat method seen globally.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical threat, kinetic attacks, or critical infrastructure compromise occurred during this incident.
• Information security: Minor. AI-generated deepfake audio was used to manipulate political discourse, representing localized synthetic media disinformation rather than a large-scale intelligence compromise.
• Sovereignty: Minor. The incident targeted a political figure during an internal party dispute, representing minor interference in political discourse without disrupting core government operations.
• Economic security: Negligible. No economic systems, financial networks, or strategic technology assets were targeted or affected.
• Societal stability: Minor. The deepfake falsely urged protests, but did not result in mass civil unrest, systematic rights violations, or large-scale societal instability.