From Laughter to Concern: Exploring Conversations about Deepfakes on Reddit -Trends and Sentiments

The escalating prevalence of deepfake content on online platforms raises concerns about its potential threats to individual privacy, national security, and democracy. This phenomenon is closely tied to rapid advancements in deep learning technologies, enabling highly realistic manipulation and generation of synthetic content. With rapidly evolving tools for deepfake creation and changing public perceptions, there is a pressing need to keep pace with these developments to enable social media platforms, law enforcement agencies, and researchers to develop better deepfake detection capabilities. To contribute to this evolving field, we compiled and analyzed a dataset of deepfake-related SFW discussions on Reddit. Our systematic analysis revealed several key findings: the emergence of new creation tools each year, spikes in negative sentiment towards deepfakes following high-profile misuse incidents, and a diverse range of discussions including topics such as deepfake creation involving famous personalities, challenges in regulation, detection techniques, and instances of deepfake-related scams. These insights provide valuable information for understanding the evolving landscape of deepfake technology and its societal impact, potentially informing future strategies for detection, regulation, and public awareness campaigns.