How a Rising Tide of Disinformation Is Deepening Division and Despair

A growing wave of disinformation, including AI-generated deepfakes and coordinated online campaigns, is being used to spread false narratives and deepen social division, according to reporting on the issue. The tactics vary widely in origin and method, with campaigns linked to state actors such as Russia and China, as well as independent far-right influencers, all identified as contributors to the trend.

Examples cited include a fabricated video depicting actor Tom Cruise criticising the Paris Olympics, and efforts to frame a Russian attack on a train near the Ukraine-Poland border as a so-called false-flag operation. These cases illustrate how fabricated or manipulated content can be deployed to muddy public understanding of real events.

A Varied and Evolving Threat

Researchers tracking disinformation campaigns describe the narratives as varied in both their falsehoods and their strategies, making them difficult to counter with a single approach. Some campaigns aim to sow confusion about specific events, while others seek to erode broader trust in institutions, media and democratic processes over time.

The proliferation of increasingly realistic deepfake technology has heightened concerns among researchers and policymakers, who warn that the line between authentic and fabricated content is becoming harder for the public to discern. This has fuelled calls for greater media literacy efforts and more robust detection tools.

The full scale and coordination behind these disinformation efforts remains difficult to quantify, and attribution to specific state or non-state actors is often contested. Nonetheless, the cumulative effect described by researchers is one of growing public division and, for some, a sense of despair about distinguishing fact from fabrication online.