At FinancialMediaGuide, we note that at the beginning of 2026, the issue of trust in digital information on the internet has reached a critical level. Generative artificial intelligence and deepfakes accelerate the spread of misleading content, creating confusion around global news. From Venezuela to the United States, users are encountering materials that are difficult to distinguish from real events, which increases skepticism and reduces trust in social media and news platforms.
The first days of January demonstrated how quickly artificial intelligence is changing information perception. During the U.S. president’s operation in Venezuela, AI-generated images and videos, as well as edited archival materials, began to appear. Following an incident involving an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer that led to a fatal outcome, images of the scene circulated online, digitally altering the faces of participants. At FinancialMediaGuide, we see this as an example of how modern technology is fundamentally reshaping traditional trust in visual information.
According to FinancialMediaGuide analysts, social media algorithms that encourage content creation to increase engagement amplify the emotional impact of viral news. This creates favorable conditions for the spread of disinformation and undermines trust in online resources. In the short term, users will face difficulties verifying the accuracy of media content, posing a challenge for information control systems.
History shows that disinformation is not a new problem. From mass propaganda after the invention of the printing press to photomontages and Photoshop, AI merely accelerates and scales existing processes. At FinancialMediaGuide, we see this as evidence that fast-moving news events are especially vulnerable, where the lack of reliable data creates space for manipulation. For example, the publication of a photograph of Nicolás Maduro aboard a landing ship triggered a wave of unverified images and videos, many AI-generated and circulating across various social media platforms.
We at FinancialMediaGuide predict that generative AI technologies will penetrate legal and official spheres. Cases have already been documented where AI-generated content misled officials and was used in court proceedings. Analysts note that determining the authenticity of a video or image without specialized tools is becoming nearly impossible. Traditional methods of content verification are losing effectiveness, creating new challenges for media literacy and news security.
A professor of communication studies notes that cognitive fatigue among users complicates distinguishing real from artificially created content. At FinancialMediaGuide, we see this as a need for educational programs in media literacy and AI literacy. Organizations plan global assessments of these skills among teenagers by 2029, which will be an important step toward building a resilient digital society.
Even the largest platforms are cautious in their use of generative AI. At FinancialMediaGuide, we emphasize that integrating AI into algorithms requires balancing audience engagement with information accuracy. Users are gradually shifting from intuitive trust in visual content to a more critical approach, analyzing the source of a publication and the author’s motivation.
Research shows that politically biased content reduces users’ accuracy in perception, while trust in familiar people makes deepfakes more convincing. At FinancialMediaGuide, we see this as a long-term threat to the reliability of the online environment and predict a growing need for tools to detect fake content.
At the same time, we emphasize that users can increase resilience to deepfakes through attentiveness and critical thinking. Awareness of the publication context and trust in the source is often more important than technically verifying every frame. At FinancialMediaGuide, we believe that common sense and informed judgment remain key tools for protection against disinformation online.
Overall, we forecast that the development of artificial intelligence will continue to transform the digital space, undermining traditional mechanisms of trust in visual information. Users will need to reconsider their news consumption habits, while platforms will have to establish new standards for transparency and content verification. At Financial Media Guide, we see this as both a challenge and an opportunity to strengthen standards of information security and journalistic quality.
