Comparative Global Governance of AI-Intermediated Media: Ethics, Accountability, and Regulatory Frameworks

This chapter interrogates the comparative global governance of AI-intermediated media as generative and recommender systems acquire quasi-editorial agency in producing, personalizing, and moderating public discourse. It maps a rapidly intensifying ethical terrain—deepfake journalism, synthetic political propaganda, algorithmically curated misinformation, and the closure effects of filter bubbles—through emblematic incidents (the 2020 Belgian Prime Minister deepfake, WhatsApp-scaled electoral fabrications in India, and pandemic-era recommendation spirals) and analytically grounded hypotheticals demonstrating how stylistic mimicry can launder falsehood into “broadcast” credibility. The chapter argues that AI disinformation is not merely additive noise but a paradigmatic rupture: scalably generative, contextually mimetic, and semiotically elusive, it erodes the epistemic cues by which veracity is recognized and thereby threatens democratic pluralism, journalistic integrity, and cognitive sovereignty. Drawing on media theory, computational ethicsComputational ethics, and information law, it compares emerging regulatory responses, including transparency and explainability mandates, provenance and labeling regimes, platform accountability duties, and content-moderation due process, while foregrounding persistent tensions between anti-manipulation obligations and free speech protections. It concludes by proposing a multi-level governance agenda combining technical standards, independent auditing, cross-border coordination, and institutional reform to reconstitute resilient informational infrastructures under conditions of algorithmic authority. Ultimately, it situates these interventions within comparative media economies, emphasizing proportionality, enforceability, and democratic oversight on a global scale.