Actor Rashmika Mandanna today expressed her gratitude to the Delhi Police for arresting the person who created her deepfake video. “Thank you for apprehending those responsible,” she posted on her Instagram story.
“Feeling truly grateful for the community that embraces me with love, support and shields me,” her note read.
The ‘Animal’ movie star also gave a piece of advice to her fans: “Girls and boys – if your image is used or morphed anywhere without your consent. It is wrong!”
“And I hope this is a reminder that you are surrounded by people who will support you and action will be taken,” Ms Mandanna added.
Eemani Naveen, a 24-year-old digital marketer, was arrested from Andhra Pradesh earlier today. During interrogation, he said that he created the video to gain more followers on Instagram, according to the Delhi Police.
When Naveen, who claimed to a be a fan of the actor, realised that the video sparked a debate across the country also saw tweets from famous personalities, he got scared and deleted the post from the handle.
Rashmika Madanna’s deepfake video, which was made with the help of Artificial Intelligence, went viral on social media in November last year. “Extremely scary” was how the actor described the video.
The original video was uploaded by a British-Indian influencer Zara Patel on her Instagram account on October 9, 2023, and later on the deepfake video of Mandanna was created and circulated on various social media platforms.
Deepfake videos are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else’s likeness.
The police said that more than 500 social media accounts related to the alleged deepfake videos were analysed during the investigation.
There has been a growing concern over AI-powered misinformation, malicious or otherwise, flooding the Internet. These include deepfakes, which are edited images or videos. Besides Ms Mandanna, several other actors, such as Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt, and Priyanka Chopra Jones became a target of deepfakes.
The government recently advised social media platforms like Instagram and X to ensure users “do not violate the prohibited content” rule of the IT Act. “Misinformation represents a deep threat to the safety of Internet users and deepfakes, which are AI-powered misinformation, further amplifies the threat…” IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.
