Social Media News Use Amplifies the Illusory Truth Effects of Viral Deepfakes: A Cross-National Study of Eight Countries

This study enhances our understanding of illusory truth effects (ITE) by focusing on deepfakes. Survey data from eight countries demonstrates ITE – such that those exposed to deepfakes previously were more likely to perceive the misinformation as accurate than those exposed to them for the first time. This pattern was observed regardless of the political and nonpolitical nature of deepfakes across all sociopolitical settings. Also, those who rely on social media for news are found to be more susceptible to deepfakes. Moreover, relying on social media for news consumption amplified ITE for all individuals (regardless of cognitive ability levels).