This article argues that state-sponsored use of AI-generated deepfakes to manipulate foreign elections constitutes an emerging form of unlawful intervention under customary international law, while addressing the inadequacy of existing regulatory responses. By comparing the United States’ enforcement-driven, piecemeal approach with the European Union’s preventive, risk-based framework under the AI Act and Digital Services Act, the article demonstrates how fragmented domestic regimes leave critical gaps that foreign actors can exploit. It contends that the International Court of Justice’s non-intervention doctrine provides a viable legal foundation for addressing AI-enabled election interference, but must be supplemented by coordinated international standards.
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