Deepfakes

In recent years, deepfakes have fueled debates in political communication research about the meaning of truth in an era of post-factual realism, as well as their contribution to an erosion of trust in politicians, journalism, and visual media in itself. This chapter explains what deepfakes are and where they come from, provides examples of occurrences in political contexts, and theoretically positions them in political communication literature. In particular, it focuses on the intrinsic aspects of visuals versus text in a mis- and disinformation context. Moreover, existing findings on the consequences of deepfakes on citizens and media practitioners are reviewed, followed by a research agenda for studying this phenomenon.