In a year poised for global electoral participation by over four billion individuals, a staggering 86% of Indians anticipate that the insidious spread of misinformation and pernicious deepfakes will significantly sway forthcoming elections. This revelation stems from Adobe’s “Future of Trust” report for India, a comprehensive survey engaging over 2,000 Indians regarding their encounters with online misinformation and their trepidations surrounding generative AI’s ramifications.
The study underscores a critical sentiment: in the absence of ubiquitous tools to discern the veracity of online content, 82% of Indians assert that election candidates should be barred from utilizing generative AI in their campaign materials. Conversely, an overwhelming 94% advocate for a collaborative effort between governments and technology corporations to safeguard electoral integrity against the adverse impacts of deepfakes and misinformation.
While a substantial proportion of Indians prioritize source credibility before disseminating content, they also recognize the imperative need for tools and media literacy to ascertain content authenticity. An impressive 92% deem it crucial to possess the means to verify the trustworthiness of online information.
Additionally, 93% of Indians concur on the necessity of being informed if the content they consume is AI-generated. The anxiety surrounding misinformation extends to its potential influence on younger generations, with 94% endorsing the integration of media literacy into school curricula to equip children with critical evaluative skills.
Moreover, the pervasiveness of misinformation has influenced social media habits, with 45% of Indians reducing or ceasing their engagement with specific platforms due to the proliferation of deceptive content.
As misinformation continues to escalate, the study reveals that 81% of Indians harbor concerns that the online content they engage with could be manipulated to propagate falsehoods. An equivalent percentage acknowledges the growing challenge of verifying the authenticity of the information they encounter online.
