Meta assists in identifying 4 suspects involved in the misuse of AI technology to create a deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna.
According to the police, four individuals involved in sharing a deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna online have been identified, but the search is still ongoing to apprehend the main mastermind behind the act. However, the police clarified that the four suspects were merely responsible for uploading the video, not its creation. The authorities have successfully located three of the suspects with the assistance of Meta, the company that manages popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The investigation was hampered because the accused were said to have removed and deleted information from their accounts, making it difficult for authorities to locate them. The cyber experts of Delhi Police are currently searching for the conspirator behind the message.
Deepfake videos featuring an actor are likely to have been uploaded using a fake identity, and the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) increases the difficulty of tracking down the perpetrator.
It has been a month since the Delhi Police registered a First Information Report (FIR) with the Special Cell in connection with the deep AI-generated video of actress Rashmika Mandana.
Earlier, the Delhi Commission for Women had also sought action over actress Rashmika Mandana’s deepfake video that went viral on social media.
Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said on November 18 that notices have been sent to all social media platforms asking them to take necessary steps to identify and remove such content.
Delhi Police’s Internet Freedom and Safety for Online Users (IFSO) unit had earlier sent a letter to Metal (formerly Facebook), but the social media company responded by stating its inability to provide information about the deleted account.
Sources said the police are awaiting a response from GoDaddy (a publicly traded Internet domain name registrar) as a similar profile was also made through GoDaddy.
Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted the danger of deepfakes on November 18 in an interaction with the media: “Deepfake is a big problem for all of us. We recently issued notices to all major social media platforms, asking them to take action to identify deepfakes. Social media platforms have responded. They are taking action. We have urged them to be more aggressive in this work.”
On November 6, an edited video of actress Rashmika Mandanna surfaced online, sparking a debate about digital security. The viral video shows that a woman resembling actress Rashmika was entering the elevator in a black swimsuit.
The video quickly went viral, with several social media users reporting that it was a deep fake.
