A school principal receives a call from a parent claiming that an audio recording circulating among students captures the principal making offensive remarks. The principal denies making the remarks. What is the recommended first response?

• A.Immediately declare the recording is a deepfake and suspend the students responsible for spreading it; image generators log every output's hash to a shared industry ledger, letting platforms match uploads against known synthetic content deterministically
• B.Contact the students who spread the recording and require them to delete it before conducting any investigation; deepfake video cannot reproduce blinking or pulse-driven skin tone shifts, artifacts that automated detectors key on with near-perfect accuracy
• C.Stay silent until legal counsel completes a full investigation before making any statement
• D.Secure a copy of the audio for technical analysis, notify district legal counsel, issue a brief holding statement that the recording is under review and the principal denies the remarks - neither confirming nor denying it is a deepfake without evidence