Countering the Invisible Threat: the Impact of Fake News and Deepfakes on Trust in Central Banks and the Evolution of Strategic Communication

Central banks are currently in a paradoxical position: they must engage more with their stakeholders, but every word risks being distorted. Their legitimacy rests not on popularity, but on trust - and trust today is under threat also from the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). In a period when a once marginal risk - misinformation and disinformation amplified by synthetic media - is becoming increasingly prominent, the growing challenges of communication do not bypass these institutions. From fake news articles to deepfake videos impersonating central bank officials, deliberately spread to spark confusion or even panic, disinformation adds to eroding public trust in these institutions, undermining their integrity. Moreover, recent incidents demonstrate that no central bank is immune to disinformation - scale, reputation, or geography make little difference. This research focuses on the impact of AI-driven misinformation and disinformation on public trust in central banks, as well as on how these institutions manage their strategic communication in response. Based on a comparative study between the European Central Bank (ECB), the Banque de France (BdF), and the National Bank of Romania (NBR), the postdoctoral study pursues two main directions: (1) How disinformation affects trust in central banks and public perception, and (2) How central banks adapt their communication strategies in response to reputational threats. The paper presents the results of both quantitative and qualitative methods. Through an online survey conducted in France (N=500) and Romania (N=500), the research collects data that facilitates understanding of how people’s exposure to AI-generated disinformation, particularly synthetic audio and video, can affect their perception and trust in the central bank, as well as how people perceive the central bank’s communication and responses to disinformation. Preliminary results of the quantitative component of the paper reveal whether there are any differences in terms of perceived exposure to disinformation effects on trust and public image (and the moderator effects of media literacy, AI literacy, and financial literacy) between Romania and France. The qualitative component is based on a series of interviews with representatives of the ECB, BdF, and NBR (4 to 6 respondents for each central bank) across departments directly or indirectly engaged with external communication or information risk. The aim is to capture their views on whether disinformation impacts and poses risks to their institutions, and if so, to what extent, as well as to understand how these challenges are currently managed within the institutions, particularly through strategic communication. Despite the growing digital complexity, the effects of disinformation on the trust, legitimacy, authority, and operational clarity of central banks remain an under-explored topic. This project aims to fill this critical gap in the literature and stress the urgent need to respond effectively to the subtle but growing threat of disinformation.