Understanding Seniors’ Strategies for Identifying Deepfakes

Deepfake videos are increasingly prevalent on social media, posing risks, especially for seniors lacking technological familiarity. The study aims to fill a gap in existing research by investigating seniors’ perceptions and strategies for detecting deepfakes. The methodology involved interviewing seniors and using qualitative analysis to uncover their identification strategies when presented with real and deepfake videos. The findings reveal five strategies employed by seniors: character appearance, non-human visual elements, audio features, personal knowledge, and external sources. This study contributes insights into how seniors perceive and evaluate video credibility and addresses their unique vulnerabilities when encountering deepfakes.