Lessons learned: Funny deepfake videos can reduce misinformation beliefs
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Mis- and dis-information campaigns are thriving on social media, partially because the people behind them are quick to jump on new technologies for capturing people’s attention. For example, deepfake videos of celebrities and doctors are now often used to entice people into buying health products online. If you spend time in the same corners of the internet as me, you might have seen half-joking comments like “we really have to start using deepfakes to trick people into believing the truth.” If you consider that idea seriously for a few moments, it leaves you with a boatload of tensions. Is it ethical to use deceptive technology to spread truth? And would it even work?
A paper recently published in Information, Communication, & Society explored if deepfake videos could be used to correct misinformation beliefs. To do this, 1346 participants were exposed to one of four videos of Donald Trump:
- A deepfake video of Trump using a serious tone to retract false statements about windmills and wind energy
- A deepfake video of Trump using cutting, satirical humor to retract those same statements
- A deepfake video of Trump using non-hostile humor to retract those same statements
- A real video of Trump talking about government spending and a funding freeze (this served as a control)
What they learned: All three deepfake videos reduced beliefs in misinformation about wind energy when compared to the control video. This was true even though nearly 80% of participants recognized the video as a fake. Among people who had favorable views towards Trump, the non-hostile humorous video was the most effective in reducing misinformation beliefs.
Why it matters: Understanding the effectiveness of technologies like deepfakes can help communicators update their strategies for fighting misinformation, whether or not that involves using the technology themselves. This study highlights how effective deepfakes can be at changing beliefs, even when people recognize the videos as fake.
➡️ Idea worth stealing: Talk with your team about creative, evidence-based ways to combat misinformation.
What to watch: How communicators define ethical lines for using technologies associated with deception.
– Elissa Scherer
