Fact-checker Full Fact says a video of Tory MP George Freeman announcing a defection to Reform UK was likely AI-made; he reported it to police
In October 2025 a video spread on Facebook and X that appeared to show George Freeman, the Conservative MP for Mid Norfolk and a former science minister, announcing that he was leaving the Conservatives to join Reform UK. Full Fact said on 20 October that the clip was very likely made using artificial intelligence: it matched his outfit and the Westminster background to a video he posted in April 2020, described the audio as stiff and unnaturally even, and said AI appeared to have been used to lip-sync the false words, while noting that an impersonator could not be ruled out. Freeman called the video an AI-generated deepfake made without his knowledge or consent and reported it to police. Norfolk Police said it was contacted on 16 October by the office of an MP about the video and opened an investigation into a potential false-communications offence. Freeman later told the Observer that friends and colleagues had sent him messages accusing him of betrayal, that Meta told him the video did not breach its guidelines, and that he found no law against the use of his identity; LBC reported in March 2026 that police told him it was not illegal. An anonymous creator told a local newspaper the video was made to show that people cannot tell fact from fiction.
AI involvement suspected · Causal attribution supported · 6 sources · Added 31/10/2026