People are bad at spotting fake photos, Research says

As the world is knee-deep in fake news, researchers found that people can only correctly tell when a photo has been doctored two-thirds of the time.

That’s barely a passing grade.

The study, published in the Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications Journal
, tested the ability of more than 700 subjects to spot alterations in a photo — from detecting any change at all to locating image manipulations both plausible and implausible. The subjects, age 18-82, could only identify real vs. fake photos 66% of the time.

“Considering the prevalence of manipulated images, in the media, on social networking sites, and in other domains, our findings warrant concern about the extent to which people may be frequently fooled in their daily lives," the study read.

Photoshopped Instagrams, deceptive memes and the rampant shouting of “fake news” has everyone on alert for faux-tos. But even when they were told an image was fake, subjects only guessed exactly where the change was made 45% of the time, the study revealed.

The investigation also showed that viewers had a particularly difficult time spotting plausible manipulations. This month, a mother posted a photo of her infant with a fake cheek piercing and so many people believed it was real, it went viral and she received hate mail and threats to call Child Protective Services. The mom later explained the picture was meant to be a commentary against manipulating others’ bodies.

But the incident was just one example of how conceivable changes can be really dangerous.

 In 2015, a Sikh man was falsely accused of being the Paris bomber when a photo of him wearing a suicide vest went viral. Simran Singh, a friend of the man in the photo, said the images “put my friend’s life at risk” and he later received death threats even after the image was proven to be Photoshopped.

“We did not find any strong evidence to suggest there are individual factors that improve people’s ability to detect or locate manipulations,” the study said.

However, “a skeptical approach might be wise.” Bottom line: Seeing isn’t always believing.