Helping enterprises identify deepfakes and protect their reputation

Fraudulent media such as AI-generated deepfakes present a serious risk to enterprise reputation management, fraud prevention, and internal investigations. Powered by increasingly sophisticated technology, manipulated media can be indistinguishable from authentic content to the naked eye, creating a growing demand for solutions that can detect and verify the authenticity of digital media. 

Some companies may think they can simply run media through AI detection tools and determine if it is fraudulent. The reality is far more complex. Despite the proliferation of so-called “deepfake detectors,” no technology currently exists that can provide 100% reliable deepfake detection for media already posted online. This limitation is largely due to how social media platforms handle media, altering submitted files and creating new copies prior to publishing online, making forensic analysis far more challenging. However, powerful solutions do exist to assist companies in this ongoing battle of fighting against fakes. 

The role of media authentication 

Enterprises need tools that allow them to authenticate digital media before it is widely shared. This is particularly critical in scenarios such as: 

• Brand protection: Fake or manipulated media can be used to spread misinformation about a company or its executives, potentially leading to reputational damage and financial losses. 
• Insurance claims: Fraudulent insurance claims may involve manipulated images or videos, making it crucial for insurers to confirm the legitimacy of submitted media. 
• Internal investigations: Companies frequently need to verify the authenticity of media submitted as evidence in employee disputes, harassment claims, or intellectual property theft cases. 

By authenticating media directly from its source, enterprises can work to establish whether an image or video is original, has been altered, or is AI-generated. Rather than relying solely on deepfake detection, companies should focus on robust media authentication practices. By verifying the authenticity of content at the point of acquisition, organizations can establish a chain of custody and ensure that media has not been tampered with before it enters circulation. 

Understanding the limits of deepfake detection 

Many commercially available deepfake detection tools claim to offer high accuracy rates in identifying fraudulent media. However, these tools are rarely designed for forensic or legal purposes, and their methodologies are frequently opaque. Many make bold claims about their success rates without providing verifiable data or transparency regarding their detection processes. 

One of the key shortcomings of deepfake detection tools is that they often focus solely on identifying AI-generated artifacts. However, the highest-quality deepfakes are not purely the product of artificial intelligence. Instead, they often go through a secondary phase of human editing and touch-ups, much like traditional video post-production in the media industry. This additional human refinement makes deepfakes much more difficult to detect. 

One potential solution in fraudulent media mitigation is the use of content credentials, such as those proposed by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). These credentials allow digital media to be embedded with metadata proving its authenticity and origin. Founded by Microsoft, Adobe, and the BBC, widespread adoption could establish a system where verified content can be trusted. For enterprises, this presents an opportunity to not only validate their own content but also to push for industry standards that protect everyone.  Even still, initiatives like C2PA require widespread technological adoption and affirmative effort to include content credentials, as well as cooperation by social media and file sharing sites to support the initiative and to include these credentials downstream. This ecosystem does not currently exist for the everyday consumer, nor for those looking to show their content is “real.” 

Fraudulent media detection challenges on social media 

While social media platforms make it easy to share content with a wide audience, they also introduce significant challenges when it comes to verifying the authenticity of images and video. They routinely alter media files upon upload, creating new videos optimized for storage and streaming—in the process changing or not including metadata such as timestamps, geolocation, and device information. This data can be crucial for digital forensic investigations, as it provides context about how and where a file was created. 

If these digital fingerprints have been erased, reconstructing the original file or verifying its authenticity becomes significantly more difficult. Additionally, social media platforms apply compression algorithms and other transformations that can distort forensic markers, further complicating fraudulent media detection. 

Social media companies have the capability to implement AI authentication and verification tools at the point of upload, ensuring only verified content is published. However, none have taken meaningful steps in this direction. Until such measures are widely supported, enterprises must rely on other methods to verify media. 

Supporting enterprise media authentication 

While no solution can currently offer a foolproof way to detect deepfakes from online sources, there are important steps enterprises can take to authenticate media before it has been published or widely shared. Magnet Verify provides investigators with a patented, purpose-built media authentication platform designed for forensic and investigative use. Unlike generic deepfake detection tools that claim high accuracy without transparency, Magnet Verify is built to produce demonstrably accurate results that can withstand legal scrutiny and can be used in corporate investigations, insurance fraud detection, and brand protection. 

The key advantage of Magnet Verify is its ability to analyze media acquired from trusted sources. This is a crucial distinction because it allows enterprises to assess digital content in its original state, before it has been altered by social media compression or manipulated in any way. By authenticating images and videos at this stage, investigators can determine whether media has been manipulated or remains in its original, untampered form. 

This would prove an invaluable tool for the insurance industry where media authentication plays a critical role. Fraudulent claims may involve altered images or staged videos designed to misrepresent property damage, personal injuries, or other insured losses. Traditionally, insurers rely on human assessment and basic metadata checks to validate claims, but deepfake technology is making it easier for bad actors to fabricate convincing fraudulent evidence. By incorporating Magnet Verify into their claims review process, insurers can analyze submitted media at the forensic level without the end user having to install any software or app prior to capturing images or videos to effectively identify inconsistencies or alterations that may indicate fraud. 

Similarly, enterprises may encounter situations where employees or external parties submit images or videos as evidence in workplace disputes, claims of misconduct, intellectual property theft, or legal proceedings. Without a reliable way to verify the authenticity of this media, organizations may struggle to determine whether submitted evidence has been altered to mislead investigators. Magnet Verify helps corporate security teams, HR departments, and legal teams assess digital media with forensic-level accuracy, ensuring decisions are based on factual, unaltered evidence. 

The path forward for brand protection and digital trust 

While fraudulent media detection remains an imperfect science, reliable authentication through tools such as Magnet Verify provides a critical layer of defense against digital deception. By integrating forensic-grade verification from products like Magnet Verify with emerging content credentialing frameworks, organizations can take a stand against misinformation, protecting the integrity of their reputations and defending against fraud. 

Learn more about Magnet Verify and its ability to confidently authenticate images and video to counter manipulated media or contact us at sales@magnetforensics.com for more information. Let us help you simplify digital evidence verification, giving your investigations tools you can trust.