How Political Deepfakes Shape Reality: A Visual Framing Analysis

he present study aims to critically analyse political deepfakes using visual framing analysis (Coleman 2010). As a form of framing analysis, visual framing analysis relies on the understanding of visual framing as the selection of one view, scene, or angle (i.e. a frame) in order to make some aspects of a perceived reality more salient and therefore promote a particular “problem definition, casual interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation” (Entman 1993: 52). I claim that visual framing analysis can be useful for the investigation of political deepfakes as sophisticated means of textual and visual disinformation which construct frames that encode ideologies. In other words, the study aims to unveil the means used by political deepfakes to build (fake) realities. The study addresses the following research questions: RQ1. What frames appear in political deepfakes? RQ2. How do visual and textual material construct the frames? RQ3. What are the social implications and political functions of these frames? To answer such questions, a qualitative analysis is conducted on a sample of five verified political deepfakes in English circulated through social media. The ultimate aim of the study is to shed some light on the role that political deepfakes play in our society and the representational strategies employed in the larger landscape of disinformation.