Immersed and Involved: Exploring How Advertisement Divergence Shapes Users’ Informational Responses to Deepfake Content

As deepfake technology becomes increasingly integrated into digital advertising, concerns have grown about how users engage with synthetic yet persuasive media content. Drawing on the Extended Transportation-Imagery Model (ETIM), this study examines how advertisement divergence shapes perceived immersion and, in turn, users’ informational responses to deepfake content, including verification, correction, and sharing intentions. Personal involvement is examined as a moderating factor. A scenario-based online survey of 820 Chinese short-video platform users shows that advertisement divergence is positively associated with perceived immersion. Immersion is positively related to sharing intention, negatively related to correction intention, and not significantly associated with verification intention. Personal involvement strengthens the positive association between immersion and sharing but does not moderate the effects on verification or correction. Extending ETIM to synthetic media contexts, the findings identify immersion as a key mechanism that facilitates sharing while constraining corrective responses, with implications for mitigating risks associated with deepfake advertising.