Public perception of deepfake filters on Social Media Media and Their impact on trust in Online Content

Journalism and Mass Communication

Deepfake technology and AI-powered filters have quietly but steadily changed what it means to trust what we see online. This study investigates how Indian social media users comprehend deepfake content and their resulting reactions while studying how this experience affects their trust in online media. The researchers conducted a survey with 420 active social media users throughout India who completed structured questionnaires that included different age groups and education levels and platform preferences. The study revealed that approximately 70% of participants had encountered deepfake or AI-generated content through major platforms, according to its mixed-method research design which included descriptive statistics and chi-square tests and thematic analysis. Trust scores decreased significantly because users who had continuous contact with this material showed reduced trust from 70 out of 100 to 39 out of 100. The decline in trust resulted from three critical factors, which were age, digital literacy and platform type. The trust of younger users who belonged to the 18 to 24 age group experienced the most extreme decline, which resulted in their trust dropping from 74 to 33 points, while older users maintained better trust levels. Social media platforms and policymakers and educators and media professionals need to understand these findings because they show how deepfake technology threatens both online credibility and public discourse.

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