Perception and deception: Exploring individual responses to deepfakes across different modalities

Abstract

This study is one of the first to investigate the relationship between modalities and individuals' tendencies to believe and share different forms of deepfakes (also deep fakes). Using an online survey experiment conducted in the US, participants were randomly assigned to one of three disinformation conditions: video deepfakes, audio deepfakes, and cheap fakes to test the effect of single modality against multimodality and how it affects individuals’ perceived claim accuracy and sharing intentions. In addition, the impact of cognitive ability on perceived claim accuracy and sharing intentions between conditions are also examined. The results suggest that individuals are likelier to perceive video deepfakes as more accurate than cheap fakes, but not audio deepfakes. Yet, individuals are more likely to share video deepfakes than cheap and audio deepfakes. We also found that individuals with high cognitive ability are less likely to perceive deepfakes as accurate or share them across formats. The findings emphasize that deepfakes are not monolithic, and associated modalities should be considered when studying user engagement with deepfakes.