Study Finds Majority of Canadians Are Coming Across Deepfakes Online, with 23% Viewing Them Weekly
According to a recent study by the Dais, a public policy organization at Toronto Metropolitan University, most Canadians have encountered deepfakes online, with nearly a quarter encountering them weekly.
The study revealed that 60 percent of Canadians have seen deepfakes, which are digitally manipulated images or videos depicting scenes that did not actually happen.
Examples of deepfakes include images falsely depicting public figures like Pope Francis, Taylor Swift, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, TV chef Mary Berg, and singer Michael Bublé.
The research found that approximately 23 percent of the 2,501 Canadians surveyed encountered deepfakes at least a few times every week.
Sam Andrey, the managing director of the Dais, believes that the actual numbers of people encountering deepfakes are likely even higher than what the study reported.
Related Stories
Younger individuals are more likely to report encountering deepfakes, with 74 percent of those under 30 having seen a deepfake and 31 percent reporting multiple sightings per week. Just under 50 percent of those over 60 and 17 percent of older individuals reported weekly encounters with deepfakes.
Celebrities and politics are the most common targets of deepfakes, with social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, X, and TikTok being the main sources of exposure. Researchers warn that people are more vulnerable to deepfakes on these platforms, leading to concerns about the credibility of information.
Last year, Meta Platforms Inc. began blocking links to Canadian news sites on its Instagram and Facebook platforms following the passage of the Online News Act in Ottawa. This move has negatively impacted people’s ability to stay current with the news, according to 41 percent of survey respondents.
Despite efforts to combat disinformation, the study found that many Canadians still encounter false information about news or current events regularly. The persistence of this issue highlights the ongoing challenges in addressing misinformation and deepfakes.
