Concerns arise over AI interference in India election due to deepfake videos of Bollywood celebrities
Two popular Bollywood actors in India have been featured in viral videos criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urging voters to support the opposition Congress party in the current general election.
In a 30-second video featuring Aamir Khan and another 41-second clip of Ranveer Singh, the two Bollywood actors claim that Modi did not keep his campaign promises and did not address critical economic issues during his two terms as prime minister.
Both AI-generated videos end with the congressional election symbol and slogan: “Vote for Justice, Vote for Congress.”
Reuters estimates that the two videos have been viewed more than half a million times on social media since last week.
Their proliferation underscores the potential role of such artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content in India’s mammoth election, which began on Friday and runs until June. Artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence-generated forgeries or deep-fakes are increasingly being used in elections in other parts of the world, including the United States, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
Campaigning in India has long focused on door-to-door campaigning and public demonstrations, but the widespread use of WhatsApp and Facebook as campaigning tools began in 2019. This year’s general election, where Modi is expected to win a rare third term, will be the first to use artificial intelligence.
Congress spokesperson Sujata Paul shared actor Singh’s video to her 16,000 followers on X on April 17, and by Saturday afternoon, her post had been reshared 2,900 times, liked 8,700 times and received 438,000 views.
Paul told Reuters by phone that he knew X had flagged the video as “manipulated media” but he didn’t want to remove it because at the time of the post he thought the person was similar to Singh and “definitely has creativity.” .
The post was no longer visible on X on Sunday, hours after Reuters sent a request for comment to the head of the congressional social media cell, who did not respond.
Both the Actors have said that the videos are fake. Facebook, X and at least eight fact-checking sites have said they have been altered or manipulated, which has also been confirmed by Reuters’ digital verification unit.
Reuters could not tell who created the videos. According to a spokesperson for both the actors, Khan was “alerted” by the viral “fake” video and Singh’s team investigated the matter. Singh wrote to X on Friday: “Beware of deep fakes, friends.”
Modi’s office and the IT director of his Bharatiya Janata Party did not respond to requests for comment.
POLICE INVESTIGATION
Nearly 900 million Indians have access to the Internet, and a study by research organization Esya Center and the Indian Institute of Management Business School found that an average Indian spends more than three hours a day on social media. There are almost a billion voters in the country.
Some versions of the videos have been blocked on social media, but at least 14 were still visible on X on Saturday. Facebook removed two videos reported to the company by Reuters, but one was still visible.
In a statement, Facebook said it had “removed the videos” for violating its policies. X did not respond to Reuters’ inquiries.
The videos have prompted one police investigation, in which Khan registered against unnamed persons on 17 April in Mumbai in a case of suspected impersonation and cheating in connection with the creation of a fake video.
Mumbai police did not respond to a request for comment, but two officers working on Khan’s case, who declined to be named, said they had written to Facebook and X to remove the video, which the companies had said had happened.
Officials said they were awake until 2 a.m. Friday, refreshing pages to check whether Khan’s online videos had been removed. When asked about the progress of the case, one of them replied: “Such technical investigations take time.”
AI VIDEO ABOUT DEAD FATHER
In this year’s elections, politicians are using AI in other ways.
In south India, Congress leader Vijay Vasanth’s spokesperson said his team created a 2-minute audio-video clip with artificial intelligence, which was shared on social media platforms, showing his now deceased but more popular politician father H. Vasanthakumar seeking votes for him. .
The late politician is seen saying “though my body has left you all, my soul is still near.”
In videos posted on YouTube by the Communist Party of India (CPM), Samata, an AI-generated anchor dressed in a traditional saree and speaking in a style that mimics mainstream news channels, criticizes the ruling party in the state of West Bengal.
In one video, the anchor claims that the party does not care about the environment as many water bodies have disappeared due to illegal construction.
A spokesperson for the ruling party denied the allegation and said the state government has ensured that no such construction takes place. CPM did not respond to requests for comment.
In the video, which has been viewed 12,000 times, anchor Samata declares: “These are questions that we as residents of this city must ponder.”
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi, Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Dhwani Pandya in Mumbai; Additional reporting by Hardik Vyas, Carmel Jaeslin B, Arpan Chaturvedi, Rishika Sadam, Shivangi Acharya, Jatindra Dash, Subrata Nag Choudhury; Editing by Raju.
