“What have been the driving factors for the rise of AI-generated misinformation on social media?”
We have been in the newsroom far longer than the calendar years of our oldest offspring, which puts a date on us, but which makes us quietly modest as one who flirted initially with Olivetti and Olympia, with the jealous telex machine nearby.
Today, the years or decades forwarded, seasoned newsroom editors, familiar still with the scent of printers ink and the lead of old, are addressing the rise of AI-generated misinformation on social media.
Some are implementing a “human-first” approach that combines enhanced verification tools, strict editorial guidelines, and proactive digital literacy.
But rather than viewing AI solely as a threat, many editors – our line included – are investing with borrowed money to amplify potential gains to counter AI-enabled “deepfakes” and automated false narratives.
What have been the driving factors for the rise of AI-generated misinformation on social media?
Technology and newsroom observers point to the easy accessibility of generative AI tools, the low cost of creating high-quality, realistic fake content (text, images, video), and the speed at which it can be produced and spread.
Algorithms prioritizing sensational content, paired with financial and political motivations, have amplified this proliferation, these observers have repeatedly underscored.
Generative AI tools (LLMs) make it simple for anyone to create convincing fake articles, images, and videos without technical expertise.
LLMs stand for Large Language Models, the specialized AI programs designed to understand, process, and generate human-like text by analyzing massive datasets.
These observers, all experts in this sphere, say as a foundational technology within generative AI, they use transformer architectures and billions of parameters to predict and create content, powering tools like Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini.
AI enables the rapid generation of high-quality fake stories and images, allowing for the creation of numerous AI-enabled fake news sites.
Sophisticated, hard-to-detect deepfakes — like false images of events (for instance, the obviously fake interview with Ferdinand Marcos Sr., dead in 1989, castigating his son; or the jamming session among Trump, Putin, Kim, Xi and the detained Rodrigo Duterte) — deceive users and spread rapidly on social media.
Social media algorithms, experts say, prioritize content that triggers engagement and outrage, which AI-generated misinformation is often designed to do, thus accelerating its spread.
At the same level, actors create fake news for ad revenue, to influence politics, or to sow discord, often using “LLM grooming” to make AI systems disseminate specific narratives.
There is also what experts dub the “Liar’s Dividend” – as synthetic media becomes common, people can dismiss authentic recordings as fake, leading to a “crisis of knowing” where it is harder to distinguish truth from fabrication.
Newsroom authorities and practitioners have warned and admonished editors and media professionals to treat fake news and misinformation as a structural threat to democratic institutions, requiring them to operate as frontliners in verifying information.
In an era of AI-driven deepfakes and rapid digital dissemination, the responsibility of an editor is not merely to produce content, but to serve as a custodian of truth and an active barrier against the spread of inaccurate, misleading, or distorted information.
While going through reams of fake news, we caught a glimpse of an Oriental sonneteer’s Shakespearean, apparently addressed to the editors as gatekeepers and the newshounds pounding the beat:
S
must check, and check, and check, and verify
before you do endorse and make a click
for in this age of fake news many a lie
are peddled making source of lie there tick.
them fake news peddlers all in overdrive
do vend false information in belief
that online users there would quickly drive
and grab the peddled fake with such relief.
the fake news peddlers raise there many a quote
in highest hopes that those who’ll read the same
will have at once indeed provoked a thought
that would, as there intended, have a flame.
must check, and check, and check, and verify
for in this age the stakes are rather high.
Written exactly when needed.
