Deepfake technology has rapidly advanced in recent years, creating highly realistic fake videos that can be difficult to distinguish from real ones. The rise of social media platforms and online forums has exacerbated the challenges of detecting misinformation and malicious content. This study leverages many papers on artificial intelligence techniques to address deepfake detection. This research proposes a deep learning (DL)-based method for detecting deepfakes. The system comprises three components: preprocessing, detection, and prediction. Preprocessing includes frame extraction, face detection, alignment, and feature cropping. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are employed in the eye and nose feature detection phase. A CNN combined with a vision transformer is also used for face detection. The prediction component employs a majority voting approach, merging results from the three models applied to different features, leading to three individual predictions. The model is trained on various face images using FaceForensics++ and DFDC datasets. Multiple performance metrics, including accuracy, precision, F1, and recall, are used to assess the proposed model’s performance. The experimental results indicate the potential and strengths of the proposed CNN that achieved enhanced performance with an accuracy of 97%, while the CViT-based model achieved 85% using the FaceForences++ dataset and demonstrated significant improvements in deepfake detection compared to recent studies, affirming the potential of the suggested framework for detecting deepfakes on social media. This study contributes to a broader understanding of CNN-based DL methods for deepfake detection.

Feature Selection (FS) is an important preprocessing step that is involved in machine learning and data mining tasks for preparing data (especially high-dimensional data) by eliminating irrelevant and redundant features, thus reducing the potential curse of dimensionality of a given large dataset. Consequently, FS is arguably a combinatorial NP-hard problem in which the computational time increases exponentially with an increase in problem complexity. To tackle such a problem type, meta-heuristic techniques have been opted by an increasing number of scholars. Herein, a novel meta-heuristic algorithm, called Sparrow Search Algorithm (SSA), is presented. The SSA still performs poorly on exploratory behavior and exploration-exploitation trade-off because it does not duly stimulate the search within feasible regions, and the exploitation process suffers noticeable stagnation. Therefore, we improve SSA by adopting: i) a strategy for Random Re-positioning of Roaming Agents (3RA); and ii) a novel Local Search Algorithm (LSA), which are algorithmically incorporated into the original SSA structure. To the FS problem, SSA is improved and cloned as a binary variant, namely, the improved Binary SSA (iBSSA), which would strive to select the optimal or near-optimal features from a given dataset while keeping the classification accuracy maximized. For binary conversion, the iBSSA was primarily validated against nine common S-shaped and V-shaped Transfer Functions (TFs), thus producing nine iBSSA variants. To verify the robustness of these variants, three well-known classification techniques, includingk-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Random Forest (RF) were adopted as fitness evaluators with the proposed iBSSA approach and many other competing algorithms, on 18 multifaceted, multi-scale benchmark datasets from the University of California Irvine (UCI) data repository. Then, the overall best-performing iBSSA variant for each of the three classifiers was compared with binary variants of 12 different well-known meta-heuristic algorithms, including the original SSA (BSSA), Artificial Bee Colony (BABC), Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO), Bat Algorithm (BBA), Grey Wolf Optimization (BGWO), Whale Optimization Algorithm (BWOA), Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (BGOA) SailFish Optimizer (BSFO), Harris Hawks Optimization (BHHO), Bird Swarm Algorithm (BBSA), Atom Search Optimization (BASO), and Henry Gas Solubility Optimization (BHGSO). Based on a Wilcoxon’s non-parametric statistical test ( $$\alpha =0.05$$α=0.05 ), the superiority of iBSSA with the three classifiers was very evident against counterparts across the vast majority of the selected datasets, achieving a feature size reduction of up to 92% along with up to 100% classification accuracy on some of those datasets.

This paper explores the transformative impact of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) on healthcare. By integrating medical equipment and sensors with the internet, IoMT enables real-time monitoring of patient health, remote patient care, and individualized treatment plans. IoMT significantly improves several healthcare domains, including managing chronic diseases, patient safety, and drug adherence, resulting in better patient outcomes and reduced expenses. Technologies like blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and cloud computing further boost IoMT’s capabilities in healthcare. Blockchain enhances data security and interoperability, AI analyzes massive volumes of health data to find patterns and make predictions, and cloud computing offers scalable and cost-effective data processing and storage. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the Internet of Things (IoT) and IoMT-based edge-intelligent smart healthcare, focusing on publications published between 2018 and 2024. The review addresses numerous studies on IoT, IoMT, AI, edge and cloud computing, security, Deep Learning, and blockchain. The obstacles facing IoMT are also covered in this paper, including interoperability issues, regulatory compliance, and privacy and data security concerns. Finally, recommendations for further studies are provided.