Cheapfake Celebrity Videos

In the age of deepfakes, the cheaper cousin has arrived: cheapfakes. These grainy, poorly edited celebrity videos look like they were made on a flip phone in 2003, yet millions fall for them. A study from the National Media Trust found that 44% of viewers believed a pixelated Tom Cruise video where he endorsed a brand of cat food. Eyewitnesses claim they saw neighbors sharing clips of Beyoncé singing Happy Birthday in Klingon. Professor Melanie Hooper of NYU notes: "Cheapfakes work because they look just believable enough and people want to believe them." Anonymous staffers in Hollywood leaked that studios are quietly using cheapfakes as test screenings, saving money on focus groups. A recent poll shows 51% of Americans cannot tell the difference between an Oscar speech and a Snapchat filter. Trace evidence includes VHS tracking lines embedded in TikToks. Cause and effect? The more absurd the video, the more viral it becomes. Cheapfakes prove that people don’t want truth; they want entertainment at 240p resolution.