War, deepfakes and the fragility of truth

The alleged deepfake videos of Benjamin Netanyahu offer a revealing window into one of the defining dilemmas of our time: the growing fragility of truth in the digital age. Whether these videos were manipulated, misunderstood, or entirely authentic matters less than the deeper anxiety it triggered. In an age when artificial intelligence can produce hyper-realistic images and videos, the very idea of visual evidence, once considered the strongest proof of reality, has begun to lose its unquestioned authority. What we are witnessing is not merely a technological shift but a profound epistemic crisis about how societies recognise truth.

For much of modern history, photographs and video recordings served as powerful guarantors of reality. A filmed appearance by a political leader could silence rumours and reassure the public. In earlier eras of war and political instability, governments released images of leaders precisely to demonstrate continuity and stability. But the digital revolution has transformed this logic. The emergence of deepfake technology, AI-generated media that can convincingly imitate a person’s face, voice, and gestures, has eroded the reliability of visual proof. When a video of a leader appears today, the immediate reaction is often suspicion: Is it real? Has it been manipulated? Is it synthetic? This reflexive doubt reveals a deeper shift in the relationship between media and truth.

It must also be acknowledged that truth itself has become a deeply contested concept in contemporary philosophy. The classical view that truth corresponds to an objective reality independent of interpretation has been challenged by several strands of 20th century thought. Post-structuralist and postmodern thinkers have emphasised the role of discourse, power, and interpretation in shaping what societies accept as truth. Nevertheless, in a more mundane and practical sense, the value of truth has not disappeared. Across societies, the demand for reliable information, especially the right to know facts about public affairs, governance, and collective life, remains widely recognised. The universal appeal of the right to information suggests that the everyday need for verifiable facts continues to hold immense moral and political significance.

The Netanyahu episode illustrates this paradox vividly. During moments of geopolitical crisis, rumours about the death or disappearance of leaders spread rapidly across social media networks. In response, governments often release videos to counter such speculation. Yet the very existence of deepfake technology means that such videos themselves become objects of doubt. Even authentic recordings can be dismissed as fabrications. Scholars of digital media describe this phenomenon as the “liar’s dividend”: the existence of deepfakes allows real evidence to be denied and false evidence to appear plausible. Truth becomes not a stable reference point but a contested terrain.

Information as weapon

War amplifies this crisis of credibility. In wartime, information itself becomes a weapon. Psychological operations, propaganda, and misinformation campaigns seek to shape perceptions of victory, defeat, leadership, and morale. In such an environment, rumours about the health or death of political leaders are particularly potent. They create uncertainty, undermine public confidence, and destabilise the symbolic authority of the state. The digital age magnifies these dynamics exponentially. A rumour that once might have circulated slowly now spreads globally within minutes, carried by networks of algorithmic amplification. What makes the present moment unique is not merely the speed of misinformation but the technological sophistication behind it. Deepfake videos blur the boundary between fabrication and documentation. Artificial intelligence can now replicate human facial expressions, voice patterns, and even emotional inflections with extraordinary precision. In this environment, the distinction between representation and simulation becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. A video no longer simply records reality; it can manufacture it.

The implications for democratic societies are profound. Modern democracy depends on shared standards of evidence and a minimal consensus about factual reality. When citizens can no longer agree on what is real, political discourse becomes fragmented into competing narratives. Each group inhabits its own informational universe, reinforced by digital echo chambers. The crisis of truth, therefore, becomes a crisis of public reason itself. Without reliable evidence, debate shifts from rational argument to suspicion, belief, and ideological loyalty.

Institutional and cultural challenge

The Netanyahu deepfake controversy thus reflects a broader transformation in the politics of visibility. Political authority today is mediated almost entirely through screens. Leaders appear before citizens not through physical presence but through carefully constructed digital images. The authenticity of these images becomes inseparable from the legitimacy of power itself. When the authenticity of images collapses, the symbolic foundations of political authority also become unstable. At the same time, the decline of evidentiary trust does not mean that truth itself disappears. Rather, it becomes harder to verify and more vulnerable to manipulation. The challenge facing contemporary societies is, therefore, not simply technological but institutional and cultural. Fact-checking institutions, independent journalism, digital literacy, and transparent communication become essential safeguards in an era where images can lie convincingly.

The deeper philosophical question raised by the deepfake era concerns the nature of reality in a technologically mediated world. For centuries, modernity believed that technological progress would bring greater clarity, better knowledge, and more reliable communication. Yet the digital age has produced a paradox: the more sophisticated our technologies of representation become, the more uncertain our grasp of reality appears. The tools designed to record the world now possess the power to fabricate it. In this sense, the deepfake controversies surrounding wartime political communication signal something larger than a single episode of misinformation. They reveal a historical transition in which truth itself becomes precarious, suspended between evidence and simulation. The digital battlefield is not only a struggle for territory or political dominance but also a struggle over perception and credibility.

The fragility of truth in the digital age reminds us that the stability of knowledge is never purely technological. It depends on institutions, ethical norms, and collective commitment to verification. Without these, the flood of images that define contemporary communication risks turning public life into a hall of mirrors where certainty dissolves into endless doubt. In such a world, the defence of truth becomes not merely an intellectual task but a political and moral responsibility.

T. T. Sreekumar is a professor and writer based in Hyderabad. Views are personal

Published – March 25, 2026 12:19 am IST