Ethical Governance of AI-Generated Political Content on TikTok and YouTube
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61453/INTIj.20260337Keywords:
Artificial intelligence, Political communication, Media ethics, Deepfakes, Platform governanceAbstract
AI-generated political videos pose ethical issues related to truthfulness, consent, audience autonomy, and platform responsibility. This review discusses these issues in relation to TikTok and YouTube through a narrative synthesis of research studies published from 2022 until September 2026 and available primary governance documents. Recent research shows that deepfake detection varies with audiovisual characteristics and that warnings may not eliminate reliance on fabricated content. Audits of platforms reveal differences in political content exposure but do not establish the effects of synthetic videos on voting behavior or general radicalization effects. TikTok prohibits political promotion for money and misleading use of synthetic videos; YouTube relies on transparency policy, misinformation guidelines, and complaints about likeness, whereas Google has region-specific advertising policies. The review proposes a six-dimensional responsible synthetic political communication framework that translates existing governance principles into coordinated duties for disclosure, provenance, consent and identity protection, factual integrity, autonomy-preserving targeting, and correction and audit. Its contribution is to connect ethical responsibilities across production, distribution, and remedy; it remains a normative proposal requiring empirical evaluation.
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