The detection of political deepfakes

Abstract

Deepfake technology, allowing manipulations of audiovisual content by means of artificial intelligence, is on the rise. This has sparked concerns about a weaponization of manipulated videos for malicious ends. A theory on deepfake detection is presented and three preregistered studies examined the detection of deepfakes in the political realm (featuring UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Studies 1-3, or former U.S. President Barack Obama, Study 2). Based on two system models of information processing as well as recent theory and research on fake news, individual differences in analytic thinking and political interest were examined as predictors of correctly detecting deepfakes. Analytic thinking (Studies 1 and 2) and political interest (Study 1) were positively associated with identifying deepfakes and negatively associated with the perceived accuracy of a fake news piece about a leaked video (whether or not the deepfake video itself was presented, Study 3). Implications for research and practice are discussed.