Democracy is historically not the default state of human interactions. Just look at facebook/nextdoor/twitter, most people want to force others how to behave (with force that is available), i.e. authoritarianism.
Any technology that makes it easier to vilify someone by definition can be used to weaken democracy.
None, since encryption isn't the answer to this problem. Take Romney's leaked "47%" comment [1] or Hillary Clinton's leaked "deplorables" comment, how would encryption have been useful to either verify the recordings' authenticity or reject them if they had been a deepfakes? It wouldn't have, as those comments were meant for private audiences, so neither of them would have officially signed them. If the encryption could trace the recording back to the individual that made it, then the leaker might decide never release the recording (since they don't want to be outed). And if all the encryption can do is trace back to a random device, why not just get a random device to sign your deepfake?
[1] https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/09/17/16131...
[2] https://www.npr.org/2016/09/10/493427601/hillary-clintons-ba...
The irony is that we all trust crypto because of the perceived tribal affiliation of the developers as well, which doubly reduces the case for crypto verifying media.
I mean, sophisticated propaganda techniques have been utilized forever, no? How do you defeat it without getting into checksums, etc? Would you agree that critical thinking skill gained from part of a rounded education would help you see through the BS? Of course, one side of the politcal duopoly in the US is trying very hard to keep Americans from getting educated...
Because they saw it on an ad, perhaps even a targeted one. I think deepfakes are going to be a "push" kind of thing: more used to corrupt the background information environment than be engaged with directly.
The art will be to release something just scandalous enough to make a difference, but just believable enough to pass a very basic smell test.
It's horrifying to watch against a background of politics becoming more polarised and more vitriolic on all sides.
If you're handy with ffmpeg and python, you can assess their veracity pretty easily. Of course, if I were on a political ratf'ing team, I'd use the same tools to add those artifacts to a copy of an offending (real but off message) stream and amplify the distribution of that fake-faked version with a debunking press release handy, so YMMV. While the Biden thing wasn't a deepfake directly, (shallow fake?) we're going to see tons of actual deepfakes around the election.
IMO, elections are no longer between candidates, they are a war on truth for domination of the narrative - office is the effect. A campaign that focuses on what happens once the war is over is daydreaming about the future and distracted from the present and this will lose them key battles. For this reason, I think deepfakes are going to be the biggest weapon in campaign arsenals for the near future. Interesting times.