Synthetic disinformation detection among German information elites – Strategies in politics, administration, journalism, and business

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Cover of Volume: SCM Studies in Communication and Media Volume 14 (2025), Edition 4
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SCM Studies in Communication and Media

Volume 14 (2025), Edition 4

Authors:
Publisher
Nomos, Baden-Baden
Copyright year
2026
ISSN-Online
2192-4007
ISSN-Print
2192-4007

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Open Access Full access

Volume 14 (2025), Edition 4

Synthetic disinformation detection among German information elites – Strategies in politics, administration, journalism, and business

Authors:
ISSN-Print
2192-4007
ISSN-Online
2192-4007
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Since the technology for generating synthetic media content became available to a wider audience in 2022, the social and communication sciences face the urgent question of how these technologies can be used to spread disinformation and how well recipients are equipped to deal with this risk. Research so far has focused primarily on the phenomenon of deepfakes, which mostly refers to visual media generated or modified by artificial intelligence. Most studies aim to test how well recipients can detect such deepfakes, and they generally conclude that recipients are rather poor at detecting them. In contrast, this analysis focuses on the broader concept of synthetic disinformation, which includes all forms of AI-generated content for the purpose of deception. We investigate the process of how actors with professional expertise in the field of disinformation try to detect AI-generated disinformation in text, visual and audio content and which strategies and resources they employ. To gauge an upper bound for societal preparedness, we conducted guided interviews with 41 actors in elite positions from four sectors of German society (politics, corporations, media and administration) and asked them about their strategies for detecting synthetic disinformation in text, visual and audio content. The respondents apply different detection strategies for the three media formats. The data shows substantial differences between the four groups when it comes to detection strategies. Only the media professionals consistently describe analytical, rather than simply intuitive, methods for verification.

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