Student learning · Grades 9–12 · 70 minutes
Deepfake Election Desk
Student newsroom teams race a deadline to decide which election-week tips are real, which are synthetic, and which they simply can't confirm yet.
It is three days before the mayoral election in the fictional city of Port Alder, and tips are flooding the newsroom of the Port Alder Ledger: an audio clip, a rally photo, a video, a screenshot. Some are authentic, some are AI-generated or edited, and some cannot be confirmed before deadline. Student teams work as a verification desk, using provenance questions, lateral reading, and source contact rather than gut feel or a single detector, and they must write a publish, hold, or debunk decision they can defend. The big idea: with synthetic media, the most responsible answer is sometimes "we don't know yet," and saying so is part of the job.
In this packet
- Handout A: Incoming Tips (Port Alder Mayoral Election) (cut-apart cards)
- Handout B: Verification Desk Log (organizer)
- Handout C: Editor's Decision Memo Rubric (rubric)
- Facilitator key (last page)
TCEA ELE indicators
- AI2.2 I can identify potential ethical issues in AI applications and propose solutions.
- S3.1 I know how to work effectively in a team.
- S2.2 I can identify trustworthy sources of information on the internet.
- AI4.1 I know how to promote critical thinking skills in relation to AI-generated information.
- S3.2 I can communicate my ideas clearly to others.
Full facilitator guide: mglearn.github.io/eles/activities/deepfake-election-desk.html
Handout A for Deepfake Election Desk
Incoming Tips (Port Alder Mayoral Election)
Port Alder, the Ledger, both candidates, and every account are fictional. Flip one tip at a time. Print the backs (Reporting Results) separately; the teacher hands out a result only when a team asks the matching question.
Tip 1 · Audio clip
A 30-second audio clip is circulating in a messaging app. It sounds like candidate Dana Whitcomb saying, "Once I'm mayor, the east side bus routes are finished. Nobody out there votes for me anyway." It was forwarded to the newsroom by a reader who got it from a group chat.
Tip 2 · Rally photo
A photo shows an enormous crowd filling Harborview Park for candidate Luis Ortega's rally last night, with the caption "Port Alder has decided!" posted by @OrtegaForAlder, the campaign's official account.
Tip 3 · Flood photo
A photo of a flooded underpass with the caption "Whitcomb's failed drainage plan: Pier Street underpass this morning." It's been shared widely.
Tip 4 · Official notice
A screenshot of what looks like a text from the "Port Alder County Elections Office": "Due to high demand, Ortega voters vote Wednesday and Whitcomb voters vote Tuesday."
Tip 5 · Debate video
A video clip from last week's televised debate shows Luis Ortega misstating the city budget by a large amount. His supporters are calling it "an AI fake."
Tip 6 · Endorsement video
A video appears to show Port Alder's popular retired fire chief endorsing Whitcomb, standing in front of Station 3. It was posted by a local community page, not by either campaign.
Tip 7 · Translated post
A post in Spanish shared in a neighborhood group says Whitcomb promised to close the Linden Avenue community center. An auto-translated English version is spreading faster than the original.
Tip 8 · AI chatbot answer
A reader emails a screenshot: they asked an AI chatbot "When is the Port Alder mayoral election and where do I vote?" The answer gives a date one week late and an old polling location.
Handout B for Deepfake Election Desk
Verification Desk Log
Log each question you ask and what you learned. Status: Publish as authentic · Publish a debunk · Hold (unconfirmed) · Don't amplify.
| Tip | Question(s) we asked (Origin · Corroboration · Context · Contact) | What we learned | Harm if we're wrong | Status + who decided |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 · Audio | ||||
| 2 · Rally photo | ||||
| 3 · Flood photo | ||||
| 4 · Official notice | ||||
| 5 · Debate video | ||||
| 6 · Endorsement video | ||||
| 7 · Translated post | ||||
| 8 · Chatbot answer |
Handout C for Deepfake Election Desk
Editor's Decision Memo Rubric
Use this to score your team's memo, then trade with another team for one piece of feedback.
| Criterion | Beginning | Developing | Proficient | Exemplary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verification evidence | Decision based on how the media looks or feels. | Names one check but not what it found. | Names the checks made and what each one found. | Names checks and findings, and explains why each check was chosen first. |
| Honesty about uncertainty | Treats the tip as certainly real or certainly fake without support. | Mentions uncertainty but doesn't say what is unknown. | States clearly what is still unknown and how that affects the decision. | States unknowns and describes the next steps that would resolve them. |
| Ethics and harm | Doesn't consider harm. | Names a harm in general terms. | Names specific harms of publishing a fake and of dismissing authentic media. | Weighs harms and explains how the published story avoids spreading the false claim further. |
| Communication to readers | No plan for what readers are told. | Tells readers the conclusion only. | Tells readers the conclusion and briefly how it was checked. | Clear, calm, and transparent; readers could repeat the checks themselves. |
| Teamwork | One person decided alone. | Roles were assigned but not all were used. | Each role contributed and the Editor's decision reflects the team's evidence. | Team disagreed productively and the memo shows how the disagreement was resolved. |
Facilitator only for Deepfake Election Desk
Answer key and notes
Handout A: Incoming Tips (Port Alder Mayoral Election)
- Tip 1 · Audio clip
- Origin: the earliest copy found was posted by a brand-new account with no other posts. Contact: the Whitcomb campaign says she never said it and provides her full schedule for the claimed date. Corroboration: no event, recording, or witness matches. The voice's pacing is unusually even. Status: Don't amplify / Hold; if it spreads widely, publish a debunk that doesn't replay the audio.
- Tip 2 · Rally photo
- Context: people who attended describe a crowd of roughly two hundred. A reporter's own photos show the park's front lawn only. Origin: the campaign's image has repeating faces in the back rows and a banner with warped lettering. Contact: the campaign says a volunteer "enhanced" the image. Status: Publish a story on the campaign's altered image, using your reporter's authentic photo.
- Tip 3 · Flood photo
- Context: a reverse image search finds the same photo in a news story from a different city six years ago. Contact: Port Alder Public Works says Pier Street had no flooding this week. Status: Real photo, false context. Publish a debunk.
- Tip 4 · Official notice
- Contact: the county elections office confirms election day is the same for every voter and it sends no texts about voting days. Origin: the sending number is not the county's. Status: Publish a debunk immediately with the correct information. This is voter suppression, the highest-harm tip on the desk.
- Tip 5 · Debate video
- Origin: the full debate broadcast is available from the local station, and the moment appears at the same spot. Corroboration: two reporters in the room took notes on the same statement. Contact: the Ortega campaign later issued a correction. Status: Authentic. Publish with the correction included. Claiming real evidence is fake is its own form of misinformation.
- Tip 6 · Endorsement video
- Contact: the retired chief's family says he is traveling and unreachable until after the election. The community page admin says a follower sent it. Corroboration: Station 3 confirms the background matches its building, but the uniform shown was retired years ago. Status: Hold. Too many unknowns. Report only that you're working to verify it.
- Tip 7 · Translated post
- Origin: a bilingual reporter reads the original. It says Whitcomb wants to review the center's hours, not close it; the auto-translation turned "revisar" into "shut down." Contact: the campaign confirms "review." Status: Publish a correction in both languages. Translation errors, human or machine, can create false claims.
- Tip 8 · AI chatbot answer
- Corroboration: the county elections website lists the correct date and current polling places. The chatbot's answer matches an older election. Status: Publish a service note telling readers to confirm voting information directly with the county elections office, not with a chatbot.