Propelled by the spectacular rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), deepfakes — digital manipulations that impersonate real people — are now commonplace in the global news landscape. Between December 2023 and December 2025, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) identified at least 100 journalists targeted by this technology across 27 countries — with the documented cases representing only the visible part of a much larger phenomenon. RSF recommends four key measures that media organisations should implement to support their journalists.
A journalist dealing with hundreds of fake pieces of content needs a support network. Documenting and reporting deepfakes is time-consuming, emotionally draining, and harmful to mental health. Media employers can ease this burden by implementing a series of practical measures.
First Measure: Monitoring and Alerts
Set up a system of ongoing monitoring of journalists’ names on digital platforms. A single dedicated staff member can detect an attack at an early stage if they have the right tools (monitoring tools, alert systems, etc.).
Second Measure: Contacts and Procedures
Compile a list of contacts and reporting procedures for platforms such as Meta, Google, TikTok, and X before a crisis arises.
Some platforms, such as YouTube, also provide deepfake detection services for journalists, which media organisations can use to protect their teams.
Third Measure: Legal Preparation and Training
Train legal departments on these issues. For example, the laws concerning fraud, identity theft, and defamation can be relied upon depending on the country.
For pornographic deepfakes, specific legislation concerning non-consensual intimate content exists in many jurisdictions. Together with legislation on cyberbullying, these laws provide an initial framework for seeking justice, accelerating the removal of harmful content, and, where investigations permit, punishing the perpetrators.
Fourth Measure: Ensuring the Authenticity of Content
Adopt standards for identifying content origin in order to be able to certify it is authentic. Many deepfakes attempt to make it appear as though the content was produced by a media outlet, for example, a fake television program.
By systematically using technologies that authenticate their content — through metadata or invisible watermarks — media organisations can establish a clear distinction between their own content and deepfakes.
| To go further |