Nairobi, Feb. 23 -- Leanne Manas is a familiar face on South African televisions. Towards the end of 2023, the morning news presenter's face showed up somewhere else: in bogus news stories and fake advertisements in which "she" appeared to promote various products or get-rich-quick schemes.

It quickly emerged that Manas had fallen victim to "deepfaking". Deepfakes involve the use of artificial intelligence tools to manipulate images, video and audio. And it doesn't require cutting-edge technical know-how. Software like FaceSwap and ZaoApp, which can be downloaded for free, mean that anybody can create deepfakes.

Deepfakes were initially used in the entertainment industry. For example, an actress in France who was unable to film her part...