Deepfakes influence the way young people perceive reality, trust media, and construct personal identity. Teenagers are still developing cognitive maturity, making them more susceptible to manipulated information.

Deepfake technologies—synthetic audio, images, and videos—have rapidly evolved and become easily accessible to youth through mobile applications and social media platforms. While deepfakes are often used for entertainment, creativity, and digital experimentation, they also introduce significant risks such as misinformation, identity manipulation, cyberbullying, non-consensual content, and erosion of online trust. This research paper examines the emergence of deepfake culture, real-world incidents, youth-specific vulnerabilities, socio-technical impacts, and ethical challenges. It also analyzes detection techniques, legal frameworks, and future directions for responsible AI use.