Individual Responsibility Around Deepfakes: It's No Laughing Matter

Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2024 Feb;27(2):105-110. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2023.0274. Epub 2024 Jan 24.

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to examine the contextual factors that impact individual's interpretation of their responsibility in the context of Deepfake videos. Using a test/retest methodology, a total of 1,023 respondents participated in a Deepfake survey instrument which measured perceptions of individual responsibility with respect to Deepfakes, individual concern with Deepfakes, and humorous perception of Deepfakes. The results of the study found that individual responsibility is negatively related to individual concern, indicating the externalization of responsibility for difficult to detect fake online videos designed to be convincing. Further, humorous perception and age impact the participants perception of individual responsibility. Younger participants were more likely to find Deepfakes humorous and this increased their perception of their own responsibility, potentially exposing them to greater harm from malicious Deepfakes.

Keywords: Deepfake videos; concern; humor; responsibility.

MeSH terms

  • Deception*
  • Humans