Hacked UK voter data could be used to target disinformation, warn experts

Data accessed in the Electoral Commission hack could help state-backed actors target voters with AI-generated disinformation, experts have warned. The UK elections watchdog revealed on Tuesday that a hostile cyber-attack had been able to access the names and addresses of all voters registered between 2014 and 2022. It said the integrity of the UK's largely paper-based electoral system was not at risk, but experts said the data could still be used by rogue actors if deployed alongside powerful new artificial intelligence tools. Michael Veale, an associate professor in digital rights at University College London, said the electoral register data could be combined with other leaked datasets to help target disinformation. Veale cited the example of a vote suppression scandal in Canada in 2011, when automated phone calls impersonating election officials were made to voters, telling them falsely that their polling stations had been moved.