Black Communication in the Age of Disinformation

“This book is timely in our era of deep fakes and misinformation. It is especially necessary from the context of the Global South as democracy can get squeezed out as extremes and binary oppositions take center stage in the social media age.” ­­-Glenda Daniels, Wits University, Johannesburg “DeepFakes and Synthetic Media: Black communication in the age of disinformation on digital spaces has extended the conversation about misinformation on platforms. Those unaware of how Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok, and other digital social media platforms are changing socio-political and cultural interconnections in parts of Africa will glean strategic messages from this collection.” -Prof. Emmanuel K. Ngwainmbi, North Carolina, USA This book explores the consequences of the changing landscape of media communication on Black interactions in the virtual space. Current developments in technology, such as facial recognition, have already disproportionately affected people of color, especially people of African descent. The rise of DeepFakes and other forms of Fake News online has brought a host of new impacts and potential obstacles to the way that Black communities communicate. With a focus on the emergence of DeepFakes, and AI Synthetic Media, contributors have explored a range of themes and topics, including but not limited to: How do AI and digital algorithms impact people of color? How does Social Media shape Black women's perception of their body? How vulnerable are young Africans to social media generated fake news? Contributions have examined how Black virtual, in person and digital communication is affected by the current onslaught of misinformation, manipulated images and videos, and changing social media landscape. Dr. Kehbuma Langmia is a Fulbright Scholar/ Professor and Chair in the Department of Strategic, Legal and Management Communication, School of Communications, Howard University.