# Are Deep Learning-Generated Social Media Profiles Indistinguishable from Real Profiles?

**Authors:** Sippo Rossi, Youngjin Kwon, Odd Harald Auglend, Raghava Rao Mukkamala, Matti Rossi, Jason Thatcher  
**arXiv:** [2209.07214](https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.07214)  
**Date:** 2022-09-15  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/paper/2209.07214v1/

## Key points

- Deep learning methods can create near photorealistic images and humanlike text that is difficult to distinguish from real content
- Concerns have been raised about the use of these techniques to produce fake social media profiles and posts
- An experiment was conducted with 375 participants in a simulated social media feed to test this hypothesis
- Results showed that detecting fake generated content is extremely challenging for the average user, even fully-generated fake profiles with posts written by advanced text generators were hard to identify as fake
- Improved detection methods and increased awareness among users about potential AI-generated content on social media platforms are needed
- The paper has been accepted for presentation at the upcoming 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-56)

## Summary

The rise of deep learning methods has enabled the creation of near photorealistic images and humanlike text that can be difficult for humans to distinguish from real content. This has raised concerns that these techniques may be used to produce fake social media profiles and posts. To test this hypothesis, an experiment was conducted with 375 participants in a simulated social media feed. The results confirmed that detecting fake generated content is extremely challenging for the average user. Even fully-generated fake profiles with posts written by advanced text generators were hard to identify as fake. These findings emphasize the need for improved detection methods and increased awareness among users about potential AI-generated content on social media platforms. The paper has been accepted for presentation at the upcoming 56th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-56).