The video originally featured Zara Patel, a British-Indian influencer, whose face changes to that of Mandanna in the deepfake.
Our Bureau
New Delhi
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar reminded the social media platforms of their legal obligations to fight misinformation, while a deepfake video featuring actor Rashmika Mandanna goes viral.
“Deep fakes are latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and needs to be dealt with by platforms,” said Mr Chandrasekhar.
“PM @narendramodi ji’s Govt is committed to ensuring Safety and Trust of all Digital Nagriks using Internet,” Mr Chandrasekhar posted on X, formerly Twitter, and jotted down the legal obligations for the social media platforms under the IT rules.
Under the IT rules notified in April, 2023 – it is a legal obligation for platforms to ensure no misinformation is posted by any user and to remove that when reported by any user or government, he further said.
In the current case, Zara Patel, with over 400,000 followers on Instagram, had last month shared the video that showed her entering a lift in a black outfit. The face soon changes to that of Ms Mandanna as she is seen entering the lift.
The popular actor , in a statement posted on X, said that the issue must be addressed “with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft”.
“I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly extremely scary not only for me but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused. Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends, and well-wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can’t imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft,” she wrote.
