# NPO and three media groups set AI deepfake labels for news, reality and fiction

Deepfakes in films and series get the EU AI logo at the start; in news it stays on screen while they show.

Published 1 November 2026 by EuGFA in The Briefing. Interests: Screen and exhibition.

## What happened

Media Campus NL published joint AI transparency guidelines on 17 September 2026, drawn up with NPO, DPG Media, Mediahuis and Talpa. The version checked on 1 November 2026 is dated 7 September and calls itself a starting document and a minimum standard.

A label must be shown when AI has made a deepfake: content that looks lifelike, imitates or recognisably resembles an existing person, place, object or event, changes its content, meaning or context, and could leave the viewer in doubt. Colour correction, upscaling, retouching and decorative backgrounds or effects usually need none if meaning is unchanged.

Placement depends on genre. News shows the EU AI logo for as long as deepfake images are on screen. Reality and non-fiction show it for three to five seconds at the start of the deepfake segment. Films, fiction series, shows and satire show it at the start of the programme, and audio-only work uses a spoken AI message.

## Why it matters

For makers, the guidelines give Article 50 of the AI Act a practical sector reading. An invented character needs no label unless it recognisably imitates a real person. A cloned voice in a fake interview does.

## Still open

Standards for the spoken AI message and an AI sound logo are still being developed. Third parties that republish the content are responsible for labelling their own publication.

## Read further

- [AI transparency guidelines, version of 7 September 2026 (PDF, Dutch)](https://mediacampus.nl/app/uploads/2026/09/Mediacampus-AI-Richtlijnen-Transparantie-Def-versie-7-september-2026.pdf)
- [Media Campus NL AI transparency page](https://mediacampus.nl/AItransparantie/)
- [AI transparency guidelines for deepfakes](https://eugfa.org/discourse/mediacampus-ai-transparency). NPO, DPG Media, Mediahuis and Talpa set a minimum standard, in Dutch, for when a deepfake needs the EU AI logo and where it sits in news, reality, films and series.
- [Guidelines on transparency obligations for AI-generated content](https://eugfa.org/discourse/eu-ai-act-transparency-guidelines). Official framing of Article 50 transparency rules, including how artistic and fictional deepfake-like works are treated. Essential European policy context for makers.