While it seems like a bit of entertaining video wizardry, deepfakes can make people say things they never did in real life and influence public opinion. Some states, for example, use deepfake technology to disrupt a target, points out RSIS’ senior fellow Benjamin Ang. “They won’t just put fakes on one side of the political story. They’ll put (fakes) on the other side as well,” he says, citing research done on national security issues. This breeds distrust among the people, and in a worst-case scenario, “anger could escalate into violence, which then creates even more distrust”.