<![CDATA[Background: AI-generated synthetic media threatens democratic consolidation, but most evidence is Western, video-centred, and rarely models citizens' political attitudes. Objective: To examine how illusion of authenticity, confirmation-bias acceleration, and Liar's Dividend perceptions relate to democratic cynicism among Indonesian voters, including mediation by confirmation bias and moderation by synthetic-media literacy. Methods: A nested mixed-methods design combined computational extraction of 4,200 synthetic-media items, a cross-sectional survey of 3,000 adults across three Indonesian urban centres, and digital ethnography with 50 key informants. Results: Cloned audio was trusted by 76.2% of respondents but detected by only 11.5%. Authenticity illusion, confirmation bias, and Liar's Dividend perception predicted cynicism, explaining 33.0% of variance. Confirmation bias partially mediated the authenticity-cynicism pathway; literacy lowered cynicism but did not buffer the pathway. Conclusion: The findings extend deepfake scholarship to oral, messaging-centred Global-South publics and support targeted electoral-integrity policy.]]>
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