mlsanityData to 14 Oct 2026

FaceGuard: Proactive Deepfake Detection

arXiv 2109.05673 ↗First posted 13 Sep 2021cs.CV cs.CR cs.LGcited by 16

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Abstract (arXiv)

Existing deepfake-detection methods focus on passive detection, i.e., they detect fake face images via exploiting the artifacts produced during deepfake manipulation. A key limitation of passive detection is that it cannot detect fake faces that are generated by new deepfake generation methods. In this work, we propose FaceGuard, a proactive deepfake-detection framework. FaceGuard embeds a watermark into a real face image before it is published on social media. Given a face image that claims to be an individual (e.g., Nicolas Cage), FaceGuard extracts a watermark from it and predicts the face image to be fake if the extracted watermark does not match well with the individual's ground truth one. A key component of FaceGuard is a new deep-learning-based watermarking method, which is 1) robust to normal image post-processing such as JPEG compression, Gaussian blurring, cropping, and resizing, but 2) fragile to deepfake manipulation. Our evaluation on multiple datasets shows that FaceGuard can detect deepfakes accurately and outperforms existing methods.

Key facts. Cited by 16 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026). Builds on 30 of its 52 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 13 Sep 2021.

Builds on

30 of 52 references.

References · 30

  1. 2018A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networkscited by 6,013
  2. 2016SGDR: Stochastic Gradient Descent with Warm Restartscited by 5,045
  3. 2019Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGANcited by 3,588
  4. 2017Progressive Growing of GANs for Improved Quality, Stability, and Variationcited by 2,988
  5. 2016Xception: Deep Learning with Depthwise Separable Convolutionscited by 2,332
  6. 2019Semantic Image Synthesis with Spatially-Adaptive Normalizationcited by 1,299
  7. 2019FaceForensics++: Learning to Detect Manipulated Facial Imagescited by 1,101
  8. 2017StarGAN: Unified Generative Adversarial Networks for Multi-Domain Image-to-Image Translationcited by 1,039
  9. 2019CNN-generated images are surprisingly easy to spot... for nowcited by 847
  10. 2020Face2Face: Real-time Face Capture and Reenactment of RGB Videoscited by 632
  11. 2020Leveraging Frequency Analysis for Deep Fake Image Recognitioncited by 504
  12. 2018MesoNet: a Compact Facial Video Forgery Detection Networkcited by 409
18 more
  1. 2018HiDDeN: Hiding Data With Deep Networkscited by 397
  2. 2019FSGAN: Subject Agnostic Face Swapping and Reenactmentcited by 320
  3. 2018Exposing DeepFake Videos By Detecting Face Warping Artifactscited by 319
  4. 2018Exposing Deep Fakes Using Inconsistent Head Posescited by 297
  5. 2019Few-Shot Adversarial Learning of Realistic Neural Talking Head Modelscited by 284
  6. 2020The DeepFake Detection Challenge (DFDC) Datasetcited by 132
  7. 2019Multi-task Learning For Detecting and Segmenting Manipulated Facial Images and Videoscited by 130
  8. 2018Two-Stream Neural Networks for Tampered Face Detectioncited by 125
  9. 2020Distortion Agnostic Deep Watermarkingcited by 90
  10. 2019Use of a Capsule Network to Detect Fake Images and Videoscited by 63
  11. 2018ReDMark: Framework for Residual Diffusion Watermarking on Deep Networkscited by 57
  12. 2017Recasting Residual-based Local Descriptors as Convolutional Neural Networks: an Application to Image Forgery Detectioncited by 56
  13. 2018In Ictu Oculi: Exposing AI Generated Fake Face Videos by Detecting Eye Blinkingcited by 54
  14. 2019ICface: Interpretable and Controllable Face Reenactment Using GANscited by 50
  15. 2020FakeTagger: Robust Safeguards against DeepFake Dissemination via Provenance Trackingcited by 46
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  17. 2013A dwt, dct and svd based watermarking technique to protect the image piracycited by 12
  18. 2021Understanding the Security of Deepfake Detectioncited by 6

Built on by

Cited by year (2026 to 14 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2023: 5; 2024: 5; 2025: 5; 2026: 1.

16 papers.

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  1. 2023Evading Watermark based Detection of AI-Generated Contentcited by 78
  2. 2023BlendFace: Re-designing Identity Encoders for Face-Swappingcited by 66
  3. 2024LampMark: Proactive Deepfake Detection via Training-Free Landmark Perceptual Watermarkscited by 21
  4. 2025Deepfake Detection that Generalizes Across Benchmarkscited by 21
  5. 2023Robust Identity Perceptual Watermark Against Deepfake Face Swappingcited by 17
  6. 2023Differentiable JPEG: The Devil is in the Detailscited by 13
  7. 2023FakeTracer: Catching Face-swap DeepFakes via Implanting Traces in Trainingcited by 5
  8. 2025WaveGuard: Robust Deepfake Detection and Source Tracing via Dual-Tree Complex Wavelet and Graph Neural Networkscited by 5
  9. 2024ID-Guard: A Universal Framework for Combating Facial Manipulation via Breaking Identificationcited by 4
  10. 2025FractalForensics: Proactive Deepfake Detection and Localization via Fractal Watermarkscited by 4
  11. 2025Uncovering and Mitigating Destructive Multi-Embedding Attacks in Deepfake Proactive Forensicscited by 3
  12. 2024Proactive Schemes: A Survey of Adversarial Attacks for Social Goodcited by 2
4 more
  1. 2026All in One: Unifying Deepfake Detection, Tampering Localization, and Source Tracing with a Robust Landmark-Identity Watermarkcited by 2
  2. 2024Deep Learning Technology for Face Forgery Detection: A Surveycited by 0
  3. 2024Facial Features Matter: a Dynamic Watermark based Proactive Deepfake Detection Approachcited by 0
  4. 2025DeepForgeSeal: Latent Space-Driven Semi-Fragile Watermarking for Deepfake Detection Using Adversarial Reinforcement Learningcited by 0

Similar, not cited

Close in wording, no citation either way

  1. 2025Big Brother is Watching: Proactive Deepfake Detection via Learnable Hidden Face
  2. 2024FaceShield: Defending Facial Image against Deepfake Threats
  3. 2025Guard Me If You Know Me: Protecting Specific Face-Identity from Deepfakes
  4. 2022FaceSigns: Semi-Fragile Neural Watermarks for Media Authentication and Countering Deepfakes
  5. 2024Are Watermarks Bugs for Deepfake Detectors? Rethinking Proactive Forensics
  6. 2026GIFGuard: Proactive Forensics against Deepfakes in Facial GIFs via Spatiotemporal Watermarking
  7. 2024Deepfake Generation and Detection: A Benchmark and Survey
  8. 2021CMUA-Watermark: A Cross-Model Universal Adversarial Watermark for Combating Deepfakes