Moroccans turn to AI for political satire and criticism after 2026 elections

AI-generated political content has emerged as another tool for criticizing and mocking Moroccan politicians after the Sept. 23 legislative elections, blurring the line between political satire, commentary and misinformation.

The National Human Rights Council, or CNDH, examined 421 images, videos and audio recordings circulated during the election period and found that 116, or 27.5%, had been generated or modified using artificial intelligence.

The material included content involving candidates and political parties, election programs, calls for boycotts, election information and satire. Some AI-generated material also depicted fabricated events involving candidates.

When AI satire is not fake news

Synthetic political media is not necessarily designed to deceive. Research into AI-generated satire has increasingly examined it as a form of political communication that can be used to criticize politicians, mock those in power and make political or activist arguments.

MIT’s Co-Creation Studio and WITNESS analyzed more than 70 deepfake cases and found examples of synthetic media being used for satire, art and activism, including videos mocking political leaders. The researchers also warned that humor can become a defense after misleading or harmful content has already circulated.

An AI-generated video that puts words into a politician’s mouth can therefore be deliberately absurd and still function as political commentary without being presented as an authentic recording.

A 2026 study of AI-generated short-form videos in Nigeria similarly examined synthetic political satire as a form of ideological and political communication rather than simply entertainment. The study found that such videos can function as civic resistance while also simplifying complex political issues and encouraging cynicism.

The risk begins when context disappears

The distinction becomes harder to maintain when a satirical video is separated from the context in which it was originally posted.

A parody may be recognizable to the creator’s followers, but the same video can appear to be an authentic political statement after being downloaded, reposted or shared without its original caption or explanation.

A 2024 study in the Journal of Communication involving 2,808 participants found that AI disclaimers affected viewers’ ability to recognize deepfake political parodies and influenced how they interpreted and responded to the material.

That issue is particularly relevant in Morocco, where the CNDH found that AI-generated or modified electoral content was not always clearly identified as such. The council also reported that political parties themselves used digital tools during the campaign, including chatbots and AI tools to produce or modify images, videos and audio.

Morocco’s rules for AI election content

Moroccan authorities had already introduced specific rules addressing AI-generated electoral content before the Sept. 23 vote.

The High Authority for Audiovisual Communication, or HACA, adopted Decision No. 50-26 in June, prohibiting audiovisual services from broadcasting electoral content generated or altered by AI when it could mislead the public or undermine the integrity and credibility of electoral debate.

The decision allows such content to be broadcast for information, explanation or verification, provided its artificial or altered nature is clearly identified.

The framework reflects the central challenge posed by AI-generated political content: the technology can be used to make a political joke, parody a candidate or criticize a party without claiming to show a real event, but the same material can become misleading when its artificial nature and original context are no longer clear.

For Morocco’s post-election political debate, the question is therefore not simply whether a piece of content was generated by AI, but whether audiences can still tell what is satire, what is political commentary and what is being presented as fact.