Work Packages
TRUE is divided into three closely linked ‘Investigation Clusters’ (ICs). Taken together, these ICs will help to answer TRUE’s core research question:
To what extent have deepfakes impacted trust in user-generated evidence, and what does that mean for the role user-generated evidence plays in human rights accountability processes?
IC1: Case law analysis
We will create a database of criminal trials (from both domestic and international courts) that have introduced user-generated evidence in prosecuting atrocity crimes (mass violations of human rights law). We will analyse the extent to which ‘plausible deniability’ arguments, allegations of deepfakes and narratives of (mis)trust appeared in a cross-section of cases.
IC2: Experimental studies with
laypeople and professionals
We will carry out empirical research with both laypeople and legal professionals to assess what features of the evidence and/or the individuals assessing it, including perceptions of deepfakes, influence judgments on the perceived trustworthiness of
user-generated evidence.
IC3: Jury simulation exercises
We will carry out jury simulation exercises to analyse what terms jurors use in deliberations to indicate the perceived trustworthiness or otherwise of user-generated evidence, and the terms that are used to indicate concerns that the evidence might be a deepfake.
