Source: LRT

Eduardas Vaitkus, a former presidential candidate and leader of the Lithuanian People’s Party, has been fined for copyright infringement and election law violations after posting an AI-dubbed version of a televised debate. The video, shared on YouTube, had been manipulated using deepfake technology to dub voices in Russian, with AI-generated speech that closely mimicked the real voices of the debate participants. LRT, the broadcaster of the debate, filed the complaint, noting that the video was not marked as altered and that the translation did not always match the original Lithuanian version. Furthermore, Vaitkus’ opponents were silenced in parts of the video, and some statements were taken out of context. The Lithuanian Radio and Television Commission (LRTK) found that Vaitkus had infringed on LRT’s copyright by distributing the content without permission. YouTube removed the video following LRT's request, citing violations of its policies regarding AI-generated content. Vaitkus’ political platform criticized the government's policies toward Russia, and his party ultimately failed to win any seats in the parliamentary elections.