Purportedly AI-Manipulated Image Allegedly Suggested Inappropriate Conduct Between Besnik Tahiri and Duda Balje in Kosovo Parliament

The Facebook page Specbuk reportedly published an AI-manipulated image allegedly suggesting inappropriate physical conduct between Kosovo MPs Besnik Tahiri and Duda Balje inside Kosovo's Parliament. KALLXO/Krypometër reported that the image had a high probability of being AI-generated, and Tahiri reportedly said the post was fake news intended to damage his political reputation.

Risk classification

• Primary risk domain: 4 Malicious actors
• Primary risk subdomain: 4.3 Fraud, scams, and targeted manipulation

The incident involves the targeted manipulation of public perception and the defamation of specific politicians using a synthetic deepfake image to damage their reputation.

Additional risk subdomains

• 1.2 Exposure to toxic content: The AI-generated image depicted the politicians in an inappropriate context, exposing social media users to misleading and potentially offensive synthetic content.
• 3.1 False or misleading information: The deepfake generated and spread false visual information about the MPs, potentially misleading voters on the day elections were announced.

Causal factors

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

The incident was caused by a human actor who intentionally generated and published a manipulated image to damage a politician's reputation after the AI model was deployed.

EU AI Act risk tier

• Risk tier: 3 Limited Risk

Risk Level 3: Limited Risk. The incident involves AI-generated content (a deepfake image), which falls under the category of systems requiring transparency obligations to ensure users are aware they are interacting with AI-generated media.

AI system and alleged parties

• AI system: WasitAi, unspecified (WasitAi)
• AI purpose: Deepfake Image Generation; Image Verification
• Behaviour type: Tool
• Alleged developer: Synthetic media generation technology developers, Image generation technology developers, Deepfake technology developers
• Alleged deployer: Specbuk (Facebook), Information manipulation actors in Kosovo, Information manipulation actors
• Alleged harmed parties: Voters in Kosovo, Voters, General public of Kosovo, General public, Epistemic integrity, Duda Balje, Democratic integrity, Besnik Tahiri

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 Minor
• 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: The report explicitly describes malicious content created and spread directly by the incident.

Directly caused: An AI-manipulated image depicting two MPs in an inappropriate context was created and published on the Facebook page 'Specbuk'.

Inferred additional harm: The image was likely viewed and shared by social media users before being flagged as a fabrication.

Democracy

Reported: The report describes an indirect attempt to influence democratic processes by targeting politicians on the day elections were announced.

Indirectly caused: The publication of a political deepfake on the day early elections were scheduled represents an attempt to manipulate public opinion and damage political reputations.

Inferred additional harm: The proliferation of such political deepfakes during election cycles can erode public trust in democratic institutions and the integrity of elections.

Epistemic

Reported: The report explicitly describes epistemic harm through the creation and dissemination of a fabricated image.

Directly caused: The creation of a fake image depicting MPs in Parliament, presenting a false narrative about their interactions.

Inferred additional harm: The spread of realistic deepfakes contributes to the erosion of shared truth and increases public skepticism toward genuine visual evidence.

People affected

• Occurrences reported: 1
• People reportedly harmed: 2
• People reportedly exposed: 2

Potential causes

Technology

• AI Image Generation Tools: Generative AI was used to fabricate a realistic photo of MPs.

Data Inputs

• Use of Real Photos as Input: Real public images of MPs were used to guide the AI generation.

Human Factors

• Intent to Damage Reputation: Malicious actors used AI to politically harm political figures.

Process and Methods

• Inadequate Platform Moderation: Facebook page Specbuk could post AI-manipulated content without pre-screening.

Regulatory Environment

• Lack of Deepfake Regulations: No strong legal frameworks exist to penalize political AI manipulation.

Information quality

• Classification confidence: High
• Reason for confidence: The report clearly details the specific deepfake post, the targeted individuals, the political context, and the fact-checking process using WasitAi. There is minimal ambiguity regarding the events, although the specific generator model is not named.
• Ambiguities identified: The specific AI model used to generate the deepfake image is not identified in the report.
• Alternative interpretations: None.

An AI-manipulated deepfake image of two Kosovo MPs was published on Facebook on the day early elections were scheduled, aiming to damage their political reputations. The image was quickly identified as fake using detection tools and original evidence, resulting in minor national security impact but highlighting the persistent threat of synthetic media in democratic processes.

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

Threat characteristics

• Imminence: Long-term. The specific incident is resolved, but it highlights an ongoing strategic concern regarding the use of synthetic media in political contexts.
• Autonomy: Human-controlled. The AI tool was directly controlled by a human creator to generate the synthetic image, with no autonomous decision-making.
• Novelty: Established threat. The use of deepfakes and manipulated media to target politicians during election cycles is a well-established threat pattern.

Impact by dimension

• Physical security: Negligible. No physical threat, kinetic action, or critical infrastructure compromise occurred during this incident.
• Information security: Minor. Involves a targeted AI-generated deepfake aimed at damaging the reputation of political figures, representing a minor localized information operation.
• Sovereignty: Minor. The incident occurred on the day elections were announced, representing an attempt to influence democratic processes, though rapidly debunked with limited impact.
• Economic security: Negligible. No economic assets, financial systems, or strategic technologies were targeted or compromised.
• Societal stability: Minor. Targeted reputational damage to public figures, but did not result in mass social manipulation or civil unrest.