How can I spot a deepfake video before I accidentally share one?

You'll need to become a student of small, strange details. AI-generated videos, or deepfakes, have gotten incredibly good. But they still struggle with the physics of the real world. The first thing I check is the lighting. Does the light on the person's face match the light in the room? A lot of deepfakes will have a perfectly lit face floating in a dimly lit scene. The shadows just won't make sense. Next, look at the eyes. Humans blink at a weirdly predictable rate, and our eyes have tiny, constant movements called saccades. AI often gets this wrong, creating a vacant, unblinking stare or a strange, glassy look. Ears and hands are also a giveaway. Fingers might blend together, and ears can be slightly mismatched or blurry. A famous example was a convincing deepfake of a CEO on a video call. The voice was perfect, but the person's earlobe kept flickering and morphing slightly against their neck. That tiny glitch saved the company from a massive wire fraud. A more practical tip: slow the video down. Most social media apps let you do this. Deepfakes often fall apart at half-speed, showing weird frame stuttering or facial warping that's invisible at full speed. The most powerful tool isn't technical, though. It's a quick emotional check. Deepfakes are designed to make you outraged or terrified. If a video makes you feel a sudden, intense rush to share it, that's your cue to pause and look at the earlobes.