90% of online content will be AI-generated by 2026 (Europol)
Unsourced Confidence: medium
No primary data found; the trail ends in a roundup, a disowned quote or a circular citation.
- Commonly cited as
- "Europol: 90% of online content will be synthetic by 2026"
- True origin
- Attributed to Europol Innovation Lab — Facing reality? Law enforcement and the challenge of deepfakes (2022)
- Type
- Stat check: A widely repeated statistic traced back to its origin.
- Year
- 2022 (cited report)
- Data as of
- Cited report published 2022
- Last checked
- What the source says
Synthetic media refers to media generated or manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI).
- Method & sample
- We fetched the full text of the Europol report this figure is credited to and searched it for '90', 'per cent', 'as much as' and 'estimate'; it contains no 90% forecast. If the figure exists, it came from a source the report does not quote.
- Drift between quote and source
- Attribution: a forecast credited to Europol that its deepfakes report does not contain
- Interest
- n/a
Safe rephrasing
Don't cite it. If you need a figure on AI-generated content, use a measured study with a stated method and date.
Sources we opened
Machine-readable: /api/claims/90-percent-online-content-synthetic-by-2026-europol.json · Last checked 2026-10-16