My brother held his phone up to my ear. “You’re gonna find this creepy,” he warned. An Instagram reel showing a teenage boy at a rally featured a voiceover in the style of a news broadcast. A calm, female voice, with an almost imperceptible Mancunian accent, said: “The recent outcry from a British student has become a powerful symbol of a deepening crisis in the UK’s educational system.” I sat bolt upright, my eyes wide open.
As a presenter for a YouTube news channel, I was used to hearing my voice on screen. Only this wasn’t me – even if the voice was indisputably mine. “They are forcing us to learn about Islam and Muhammad in school,” it continued. “Take a listen. This is disgusting.” It was chilling to hear my voice associated with far-right propaganda – but more than that, as I dug further into how this scam is perpetrated, I discovered just how far-reaching the consequences of fake audio can be.
