The Effect of Media Literacy on Misinformation and Deep Fake Video Detection

Abstract

Misinformation has become a major problem in virtually all societies. The emergence of deepfake AI technology has only exacerbated issues around misinformation and disinformation. One way to try to limit the negative effects of fake news and false information in a society is media literacy. This study focused on the effect of media literacy on detecting fake news in both video and text messages. Based on Inoculation Theory, three hypotheses were suggested and a quasi-experimental research design was conducted. The participants included 204 highly educated Egyptians who were divided into three groups. One group was given a powerpoint lecture on the meaning of misinformation, its consequences, how to verify information received via social media, and examples of fake news. The second group was given a similar presentation but instead of talking about misinformation in general the presentation focused on deepfake AI technology. The third group was the control and were not given any media literacy information. Two types of fake messages were evaluated by each group; a Facebook post with text and an image and a deepfake video. The results of the study suggest the effectiveness of media literacy lectures in raising the rate of detection of fake news whether in the form of text or video. Results also indicated a decreased probability of sharing the fake messages. The study recommends designing media literacy lectures including both information on misinformation in general and specific information on the new technology creating fake news like deepfake.