‘It was extremely pornographic’: Cara Hunter on the deepfake video that nearly ended her political career

The Irish politician was targeted in 2022, in the final weeks of her run for office. She has never found out who made the malicious deepfake, but knew immediately she had to try to stop this happening to other women

When Cara Hunter, the Irish politician, looks back on the moment she found out she had been deepfaked, she says it is like watching a horror movie". The setting is her grandmother's rural home in the west of Tyrone on her 90th birthday, April 2022. Everyone was there," she says. I was sitting with all my closest family members and family friends when I got a notification through Facebook Messenger." It was from a stranger. Is that you in the video ... the one going round on WhatsApp?" he asked.

Hunter made videos all the time, especially then, less than three weeks before elections for the Northern Ireland assembly. She was defending her East Londonderry seat, campaigning, canvassing, debating. Yet, as a woman, this message from a man she didn't know was enough to put her on alert. I replied that I wasn't sure which video he was talking about," Hunter says. So he asked, did I want to see it?" Then he sent it over.