Extremely scary, says Rashmika Mandanna as her deepfake video sparks massive outrage
Sharing the video, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan demanded legal action while also highlighting the need for new legal measures
A deepfake video of Bollywood actress Rashmika Mandanna entering the elevator in a form-fitting black dress with a plunging neckline sparked massive outrage among social media users on Monday (November 6).
People expressed shock on platforms like X while dubbing the video as disturbing. A user said, “High quality deep fake, very disturbing. I think the powerful will use it to their advantage and the ordinary person will suffer. Enough to destroy anyone.” Another user tweeted, “Scariest thing ull see on the internet...it’s all here now...we used to joke about morphing etc now this is another level.”
The video was debunked by Abhishek Kumar, journalist and fact checker at AltNews. He disclosed that it was a deepfake video and the girl in it wasn’t Mandanna but a British-Indian influencer named Zara Patel. He tweeted, “There is an urgent need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfake in India. You might have seen this viral video of actress Rashmika Mandanna on Instagram. But wait, this is a deepfake video of Zara Patel….”
The ‘Animal’ actress took to X and termed the experience as “extremely scary”. She tweeted, “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… We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft.”
Sharing the video, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan demanded legal action while also highlighting the need for new legal measures. Incidentally, Mandanna had made her Bollywood debut alongside the veteran actor in the movie ‘Goodbye’.
Govt takes note
Meanwhile, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar reminded the social media platforms of their legal obligations to fight misinformation, acknowledging a viral deepfake video featuring Mandanna.
“PM @narendramodi ji’s Govt is committed to ensuring Safety and Trust of all Digital Nagriks using Internet,” Chandrasekhar posted on X, formerly Twitter, and jotted down the legal obligations for the social media platforms under the IT rules. “Deepfakes are latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and needs to be dealt with by platforms,” he said.
Deepfakes are photos or videos altered to replace a person or an element using Artificial Intelligence. In recent days, they have become a major source of misinformation and are often associated with fake viral posts.
