False AI voting advice circulated by Reform MS ahead of key by-election

Emily Price 

A Reform Member of the Senedd has deleted an AI-generated social media post about a key by-election after Nation.Cymru informed him it contained incorrect information for voters.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council was forced to clarify voting rules ahead of tomorrow’s Treorchy, Cwmparc and Ynyswen by-election after Reform UK’s Aberafan Maesteg, Rhondda and Ogmore Facebook page shared AI-generated misinformation about the process on social media.

The post was also shared by the branch’s chair, Afan Ogwr Rhondda Member of the Senedd Steve Bayliss.

In a post to Facebook, he urged residents to back Reform candidate Craig Ford, who was selected to stand for Nigel Farage’s party just days after leaving his role as a communications officer for the Welsh Conservative Senedd group.

The post included a deep-fake style photo of Mr Ford along with an AI graphic that incorrectly claimed that voters would be required to show identification in order to cast their ballot at polling stations in Treorchy on Thursday (June 25).

The post also incorrectly listed a number of supposedly accepted forms of identification, including passports, driving licences, blue badges and PASS cards.

The AI post further advised that a “biometric immigration document” or a “voter authority certificate” could be used as proof of identity at the ballot box.

In fact, voters are not required to present identification when voting in local authority by-elections or Senedd elections in Wales.

Voters in Wales only need to show photo ID for specific elections managed by the UK Government.

A Rhondda constituent said: “Reform is either using an English election template or just have no clue about Welsh elections.”

A Rhondda Cynon Taf Council spokesperson said: “I can confirm that voters DO NOT need ID to vote in the by-election, as long as they are registered to vote in the ward they do not even need to take their poll card with them.”

Nation.Cymru contacted both Mr Bayliss and Mr Ford seeking an explanation as to why misleading information about voting arrangements had been circulated online. We did not receive a response.

Facebook’s edit history function showed that shortly after we contacted the pair, Mr Bayliss altered the post to removed the graphic that included incorrect claims about voter ID.

However, the Reform MS did not remove the deep-fake style image of Mr Ford.

The Reform MS regularly publishes synthetic images to his branch Facebook page and his personal Facebook account, with the social media platform now labelling some of his content as “AI” to alert users.

On March 26, the day after he was announced as a Reform candidate for the Senedd election, Mr Bayliss changed his Facebook profile picture to a deepfake-style image of himself sitting in the House of Commons in Westminster.

Since being elected to the Senedd in Cardiff Bay, he has used AI to digitally alter his official photograph—originally taken by a professional photographer against a white background—so that it appears he is standing in the Senedd’s foyer.

Nation.Cymru asked Mr Bayliss why he uses so much AI generated content, pressing him on why he couldn’t use real photos of himself and other Reform figures such as Mr Ford. We did not receive a response.