The Ethics of Deepfakes: A Digital Age Crisis

Deepfake Technology has earned great attention because of its capability to deceive, manipulate and fabricate certain content like images, audio, video and much more. The term “deepfake” is a bifurcation of “deep learning”, a subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and “fake” which denotes the synthetic or unreal nature of the content. With the use of this technology, audio and video media can be altered to give the impression that someone has said or done something they haven’t. This technology is flourishing on social media which is harming children, women and other vulnerable users. This research explores the role of deepfake technology in propagating misinformation or false information throughout the web along with its potential results on public and social cohesion. Legal frameworks have also been discussed in this research on how recent legislation responds to this manipulation. This research also argues that the impact of deep fakes on society is extreme and versatile, necessitating a coordinated response from governments, tech companies, and civil society. By shedding light on these critical aspects, this research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of deepfake technology on social media and to inform future efforts in detection, prevention, and policy development.