Breaking News, Breaking Trust

  “Seeing is believing” may not always hold true anymore. With artificial intelligence (AI), even audio or video can be generated. Deepfakes - media generated by AI which can make it seem that someone said or did something they didn’t do or say - are now one of democracy’s greatest threats. A 2024 McAfee survey indicated that 63% of respondents had seen a political deepfake in the past 60 days, and almost half (48%) said it affected how they viewed the candidates (Fox Business, 2024). Researchers at Northwestern University created a database that tracked 100+ confirmed political deepfakes beginning in 2017 (CASMI, 2024). Scholars warn of a “liar’s dividend”, where actual scandals are dismissed as fake, fake scandals are believed to be true. Public concern is high as O consented to 90% of respondents worry about deepfakes and voice cloning (Pindrop, 2024). Regulation, however, lags behind and citizens and platforms are left with the challenge of developing mechanisms to manage their...

Amidst the ongoing rise of social media, we witness platforms like Facebook (now Meta) claiming they are addressing and fighting misinformation through fact-checking partnerships with third-party organizations. It sounds good in theory as almost everyone would likely prefer false claims debunked, but fact-checking brings up some serious issues: Who determines what is “false on news?” What is the impact of label on credence? And can these services containing misinformation, or merely move it elsewhere? Meta’s fact-checking program started in 2016, with a partnership with third-party factual verification agencies such as PolitiFact, AFP, and FactCheck.org in hopes of correcting viral misinformation (Facebook Friends, n.d). In January of 2025, Meta announced they are ending the partnerships in the U.S. and switching to a “Community Notes” program similar to X/Twitter’s crowdsourced fact-checking efforts (Al Jazeera, 2025). Many opponents, and enthusiasts of social media are concerned that...