Concerns About Intersection of AI and Media Intensify November Media Narratives

Deepfake Concerns and AI-Generated News Content Dominate

Perscient's semantic signature tracking deepfake concerns on social media recorded a 115.2-point monthly increase, reaching 455.6% above the long-term average—the largest single-month surge across all tracked signatures. Meanwhile, language asserting concerns that artificial intelligence is increasingly producing news content climbed 67.3 points to 522.2% above the mean, the highest absolute reading this month. These parallel movements reflect growing anxiety about synthetic content's acceleration across digital platforms.

The scale of the deepfake phenomenon has grown substantially. Europol estimates that 90% of online content may be generated synthetically by 2026, while projections suggest 8 million deepfakes will circulate in 2025, up from 500,000 two years earlier. OpenAI's Sora video generation app has drawn particular scrutiny. Trust and safety experts told *The Economic Times* that Sora has "essentially rebranded deepfakes as a light-hearted plaything," with professionals suggesting the tool marks a turning point when deepfakes shifted from isolated incidents to everyday occurrences. Public Citizen has demanded OpenAI withdraw the app over concerns about nonconsensual imagery and threats to democracy.

The proliferation extends beyond entertainment into journalism itself. NewsGuard has identified 2,089 undisclosed AI-generated news and information websites spanning 16 languages, demonstrating how generative AI has accelerated misinformation operations. Britain's Channel 4 launched an AI-generated news presenter named "Arti" to read dispatches on social media channels, sparking debate about automation's role in journalism. Research indicates AI-generated news content results in lower liking behaviors compared to human-written content, with this effect mediated by the article's perceived credibility.

Testing by *The Washington Post* revealed that Facebook, TikTok and other major platforms do not use a tech industry standard touted as a way to flag fake content, despite the existence of technical standards designed to identify synthetic media. The inability to reliably distinguish authentic from fabricated content creates what experts call the "liar's dividend," allowing malicious actors to dismiss authentic evidence as fabrication and undermining the foundation of shared reality. Language tracking how constant media exposure is changing human cognition rose 40.7 points to 269.6% above average, reflecting concern about the cognitive impacts of navigating this synthetic landscape.

Social Media Harms to Children Drive Policy and Platform Changes

These concerns about synthetic content's cognitive effects connect to broader worries about social media's impact on young people. The semantic signature tracking language asserting that social media platforms are damaging children's wellbeing rose 51.9 points to reach 231.8% above the long-term average. This surge coincides with Australia's world-first legislation restricting young people under 16 from accessing social media, set to take effect December 10, 2025. Similar measures are under discussion in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

The policy push reflects accumulating research linking social media use to mental health challenges in young people. Studies show that frequent social media use is strongly associated with lower self-esteem, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and other mental health challenges in children. Adolescents who spend more than three hours daily on social media are twice as likely to experience poor mental health outcomes. Research from 2025 shows that 46% of teen girls say social media makes them feel worse about their body image, corresponding with a 22.9-point increase in language about social media creating body image problems for young adults, reaching 27% above average.

The Australian legislation has sparked constitutional challenges. Two teenagers, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, both 15, filed a High Court challenge supported by NSW Libertarian MP John Ruddick, who calls the law an "East German-style intrusion." The law requires platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat to prevent users under 16 from maintaining accounts or face fines up to A$49.5 million. Critics argue the legislation effectively mandates age verification systems that could compromise privacy for all users, not just minors.

Australia's eSafety commissioner has warned that implementation will "vary" across platforms, acknowledging that not all Australians aged under 16 will "magically disappear overnight" from social media. Meanwhile, research shows that publicly posting or sharing content online is associated with adverse outcomes, potentially followed by negative feedback from peers, cyberbullying, unfriending or blocking, or doxxing. Language tracking online bullying as a problem increased 16.4 points to 24.2% above the long-term average. In response, TikTok is introducing new AI-generated content controls inside its Manage Topics tool, letting users adjust AI content in their For You feed, and testing invisible watermarking on AI outputs.

Young Men and Online Radicalization Narratives Gain Attention

Beyond general harms to children, specific concerns about how platforms affect young men have also intensified. Language claiming that social media platforms are radicalizing young men toward extremist ideologies rose 31.6 points to 189.1% above the long-term average. This increase parallels rising concern about attention spans and content depth: language about social networks shortening attention spans increased 33.8 points to 159.8% above average, while language asserting that shorter content formats are degrading capacity for complex thought rose 24 points to 186.5% above the long-term mean.

Analysis of over 2,200 posts by Andrew Tate reveals that his content, often framed as self-improvement, serves as a gateway to extremist and misogynistic ideologies, with nearly 89% of his posts focusing on promoting a narrow view of masculinity. An investigation by *The Age* found that Stirling Cooper, a close Tate associate, has been helping Australian Nazi groups led by Thomas Sewell recruit teenagers. Research shows that misogynistic content online targets mostly young men ages 13-25 who report feelings of social isolation or rejection, often appearing as inspirational and aspirational self-improvement content.

Social media has enabled recruiters to bypass parents, educators, and community members. Platforms like TikTok, X, and Facebook enable extremists to access younger audiences through algorithms that channel impressionable youths to ever more emotionally charged content. The influence of male content creators like Andrew Tate on young boys has been highlighted as a concerning force in British society, though new research titled 'Inside the Mind of a 16-year-old' suggests Tate's influence may be declining among Britain's newest teen voters, who are more concerned about knife crime than manosphere influencers.

Language tracking parasocial, or one-sided relationships with public figures,  substituting for real expertise rose 41.2 points to 136.3% above average. Research from Monash University shows how recommender algorithms are reshaping boys' online environments, amplifying extreme masculinity content and fueling new forms of gendered harm. A study published in November found that a third of boys think women's rights are unimportant, with boys also turning to chatbots for emotional support, friendships and romantic relationships. Terrorism in 2025 involves social media enabling not just radicalization and consuming propaganda, but active planning and coordination.

Influencers Challenge Traditional Media Power Structures

The same platforms facilitating radicalization and parasocialization are also reshaping media delivery and access more broadly. Language asserting that influencers are overthrowing traditional media gatekeepers rose 21 points to reach 78.1% above the long-term average, while language about conventional news organizations being in terminal decline increased 9.8 points to 55.1% above average. These movements reflect fundamental shifts in how Americans consume information and who they trust to deliver it.

Donald Trump's 2024 success was attributed in part to his courting of an alternative media ecosystem that includes podcasters and YouTubers. Reuters reported how right-wing influencers and Trump officials work in lockstep, with social media influencers and content creators invited to press briefings while some traditional media have found access denied. The proportion accessing news via social media and video networks in the United States (54%) is sharply up, overtaking both TV news (50%) and news websites/apps (48%) for the first time.

Around a fifth (21%) of adults in the United States and more than a third of Under-30s (37%) now regularly get news from so-called creators or influencers. Pew Research found that YouTube news influencers are more likely to explicitly identify with the political right than the left, and few have links to the news industry. Almost two-thirds of news influencers are men, and except on TikTok, more influencers explicitly identify with the political right than the left.

Around 80% of marketing leaders are increasing their influencer marketing budget, and about 25% are divesting from traditional marketing channels to fund it. With declining TV viewership numbers, traditional media advertisers are shifting focus to content creators, with evidence including Chris Wallace's departure from CNN to pursue podcasting and presidential candidates doing more podcast interviews. Language discussing newsletters bypassing traditional distribution rose 14.6 points to 96.7% above average. Even No 10 Downing Street has turned to influencers to reach audiences beyond mainstream media, though critics view this as a way to avoid serious scrutiny of decisions.

Language asserting that social networks are giving ordinary people power to create and distribute media rose 5.6 points to 39.6% above the long-term mean, remaining at more moderate levels compared to disruption narratives. Venture capital firm a16z launched a New Media Fellowship to invest in creators, writers, and media operators—a move that would have seemed unusual a decade ago but now reflects the fundamental restructuring of the media landscape.

Trust, Misinformation, and Algorithm Concerns Intensify Across Media

The growth in influence for non-traditional media has not taken place in a vacuum, of course, but against a backdrop of declining trust in traditional institutions. Language claiming that public faith in news media has reached historically low levels rose 19.6 points to reach 63.2% above the long-term average. According to Gallup's 2025 survey, only 28% of Americans say they trust the news to report fully and fairly—the lowest level since the 1970s. The divide is sharp across both political and generational lines, signaling not just disillusionment but a deep misunderstanding of what journalism is supposed to be. Language claiming that mainstream news media acts contrary to the interests of citizens increased 11.7 points to 47.9% above average.

Language claiming that algorithms are controlling what media people consume rose 33.1 points to 124% above the long-term mean, representing substantial growth in concern about algorithmic control. A study published in November shows that the order in which platforms like X display content to their users affects their animosity towards other ideological groups. Research in *The Guardian* found that a week of political content can bring about a shift in views that previously would have taken three years.

While some of that may be attributable to algorithmic targeting, some of it almost certainly relates to the extremeness of the language being used. For example, language asserting that social media companies deliberately exploit anger and outrage increased 32.6 points to reach 131.7% above average, while language claiming that platform algorithms preferentially promote extremist content rose 9 points to 66.1% above the long-term mean.

Language asserting that independent journalism is critically important to democracy rose 10.3 points to 51.3% above average, suggesting countervailing narratives about journalism's importance remain present but at lower absolute levels than concerns about media dysfunction. As one commentator noted, when legacy media are discredited as establishment shills, it becomes inevitable that people doubt anything they report—a governance failure when even apolitical observers don't trust the state.

Archived Pulse

October 2025

• Deepfakes Reach Critical Mass as Detection Becomes Near-Impossible
• AI-Generated News Content Proliferates Across American Journalism
• Newsletter Renaissance Accelerates as Substack Transforms Media Distribution
• Attention Spans Collapse Under Weight of Short-Form Content
• Social Listening Emerges as Alternative to Traditional Polling Methods

Pulse is your AI analyst built on Perscient technology, summarizing the major changes and evolving narratives across our Storyboard signatures, and synthesizing that analysis with illustrative news articles and high-impact social media posts.