An Analysis of the Human Ability to Detect Deepfakes With Geopolitical Content

Bibliographic Data

ID22108976
AuthorsMichele Brienza (0009-0000-1549-9500, Sapienza University of Rome), Marta Golotta (0009-0007-7580-1602, Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma), Marco Romano (0000-0001-7629-3872, Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma), Daniele Nardi (0000-0001-6606-200X, Sapienza University of Rome), Domenico D Bloisi (0000-0003-0339-8651, Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma)
Year2026
Volume13
Issue3
Pages3054-3064
Publication date2026-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2329-924X • E-ISSN: 2373-7476
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1109/tcss.2026.3667623
OpenAlexW7140887315
LanguageEN
References cited22

The increasing diffusion of deepfakes has raised significant global concerns, especially due to their potential geopolitical implications. This concern relates to the spread of false information that can mislead people and have a serious impact on societies. However, identifying what can misinform people is not trivial. In this work, we present an experimental study that involves a sample of students of different backgrounds. Three different political deepfakes were created and shown to them. The perceived values were then analyzed using a specific questionnaire. The experimental results show significant differences in the ability to discern the authenticity of the proposed videos depending on the level of awareness of the contents viewed. This demonstrates the crucial role of education on deepfakes in countering the spread of misinformation

Content analysis · Geopolitics · Statistical analysis · Computational and Text Analysis Methods · Digital Media Forensic Detection · Generative Adversarial Networks and Image Synthesis

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