Fears that the use of AI deepfakes would disrupt the flow of accurate information in a general election campaign have not come true. Instead we have been treated to a digital manifestation of someone who barely resembles Taylor Swift endorsing the Healy-Raes: welcome to the cheapfake era.

On today’s Inside Politics podcast Hugh Linehan is joined by Liz Carolan to discuss the influence of digital media in the 2024 general election, current trends in digital campaigning and the changing role of platforms like X and TikTok.

Hugh and Liz compare the different strategies of political parties and assess the significance of viral moments and the real challenges posed misinformation and AI.

• Sign up for Politics push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
• Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date