AI Political Deepfakes Damaged Politician Reputations Even When Viewers Knew the Videos Were Fake
TL;DR: A 2026 three-wave experimental study in Communication Research (N=3,000+ adults across the US and the Netherlands) found that AI-generated political deepfake videos damaged the reputations of targeted politicians even when viewers correctly suspected the footage was fake — and standard fact-checks restored authenticity perception without reversing the reputational harm. Key Findings Three-wave experiment, 3,000+ …
