As the United States prepares for the upcoming November election, misinformation and disinformation have spread through memes. Memes are any idea, expression, or opinion that uses text, visual imagery (e.g., a photo, video, or gif file) with or without sound, which can be copied and shared online. For researchers, they are co-constructions that have meaning primarily in humor, which can be shared by multiple users, and in the case of the internet, across various platforms.

The convenient availability of commercial artificial intelligence (AI) tools has also contributed to the existing meme economy. Software like X’s AI chatbot called Grok can quickly generate such images, especially with its ability to use famous peoples’ likenesses, copyrighted material, violent content, or pornographic image generation.

How Does Election Disinformation Spread Through Memes?

The reality is that AI-generated memes have been inserted into the political conversation. These altered images often seem harmless to voters, particularly because they are sometimes shared by people they trust in their personal and professional networks. It can be difficult for policymakers or content moderators to definitively assess their impact because the humor or profile of memes makes them appear innocuous.

In the current policy environment where content moderation and domestic AI policy are still evolving, those who develop and disseminate memes can potentially influence voter information about candidate issues, character, and other relevant election information without the usual guardrails that either regulate speech in the U.S. or trigger attention based on the manipulation of political content.

Tugging on the emotions of voters is a critical part of influencing them to act. Memes present unique opportunities because they can disseminate information and foster a sense of community through humor and other apolitical ways. Examples of the persuasive power of memes have appeared in efforts to spread political messaging, alter the stock market, or even influence the way the public thinks about war.

Read the full article about election disinformation by Nicol Turner Lee and Isabella Panico Hernández at Brookings.