HYDERABAD: YouTuber and political analyst Dhruv Rashi is widely known for criticizing the government. For many who follow his videos, his commentary videos often “question authority”, even as BJP supporters label him as “anti-Modi” or “anti-BJP”.
Video of Rashi praising PM Modi goes viral
However, a series of videos currently circulating on social media shows Rashi praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party government. These clips are widely shared by pro-BJP accounts without any indication or warning that they may have been manipulated or artificially generated.
What is the content of the video?
A Twitter account named ‘Hindutva Nights’ shared a video of Mr. Rashi in which Prime Minister Modi’s government appeared to be mitigating the LPG crisis even before the LPG shortage began. (archive)
When we investigated this account, we found that most of its posts were pro-Indiana Party-aligned and critical of the opposition party.
Another Instagram account named ‘Political Humor’, which posts content supporting the Bharatiya Janata Party and criticizing other political parties, also posted a similar video of Lachi. In this video, he praises the current central government for transforming the Indian Railways and criticizes the previous UPA government. (archive)
Instagram handle “n4mobharat.in Narendra Modi |” Narendra Modi, who reveals in his bio that he is a fan of Mr. Narendra Modi, has posted seven videos of Dhruv Rashi in which he appears to praise Prime Minister Modi and defend the Bharatiya Janata Party government.
But are these videos featuring Dhruv Rashi real? No, they are created using artificial intelligence (AI).
Additionally, we found that these AI-generated videos had higher engagement than videos with actual content shared from the handle.
In one of the videos, Rashee is seen advocating a twin government and citing West Bengal as an example of why two different governments don’t work.
There is another Instagram account named “pmmodi.again |” Himanshu Kumawat’ also released a similar video. The handle has an image of Prime Minister Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as the display photo. The profile says “@narendramodi Ji’s fan page.”
The account’s feed looks identical to the aforementioned Instagram handle, as the posted content is the same.
How did you know it was an AI video?
Videos follow a common pattern in terms of content presentation.
They begin with Lachie explaining a topic, followed by screenshots of newspaper reports and tweets posted by news outlets as a way to show that the explanation is based on “facts.”
The content of these videos primarily targets opposition parties, praising Prime Minister Modi’s government while claiming to present “evidence”. Regardless of whether the reports shown in the video are real or fake, the claim that Dhruv Rashi is actually speaking in the video is false.
What does the analysis reveal?
When I compared the videos using existing footage, I found that the videos were not created by manipulating actual footage, and although the videos were the same, the audio was different.
Unlike typical deepfake videos, where footage of celebrities is cut from real speeches and manipulated using AI, these clips have no identifiable source.
In most cases of deepfakes, the original video can be tracked and compared to show obvious manipulation. However, no such reference exists in these clips. These are a bit similar to Dhruv Rathee’s videos, but not quite the same.
Instead, these videos appear to have been generated entirely from scratch using prompts from a generative AI platform. This may explain why the visuals are much less consistent than standard deepfakes, as there is no original reference footage to guide the output.
visual discrepancy
The body movements of the person in the video do not match Dhruv Rashi’s movements. Movements appear awkward, and teeth appear brighter and wider than the person himself.
AI generation tools often struggle to create believable teeth and lip syncs, and videos are a great example of this. The hand movements seem robotic and the finger movements are inconsistent. The voice is similar to Rashi’s voice, but it is not human. Similar to when an AI model generates fake speech, it may pause or mispronounce words.
Video is poor AI-generated content. These fall into the easily identifiable category of AI footage. But for those who don’t yet understand the difference between AI and real content, the line remains blurry.
AI detection tool flag operations
I uploaded the video to the Hive Moderation AI detector. The tool found that both the video and audio were likely AI-generated or deepfake content, with probability scores above 90% in all cases.
We also analyzed the clips using Google Gemini. The tool indicated that the video may not have been created using its own AI system, but it did indicate that it was generated by AI.
Gemini further added that videos featuring this type of digital avatar are typically created using proprietary video generation platforms such as Synthesia, HeyGen, and D-ID, which specialize in “text-to-video” digital twins.
Pattern suggests a coordinated campaign
These videos suggest a pattern of self-proclaimed Bharatiya Janata Party-backed accounts using AI-generated clips of Dhruv Rashi to push specific political messages. Dhruv Rashi is a popular online personality for his controversial political content. He has over 31 million subscribers.
By making the video appear to be praising Prime Minister Modi’s government, it can mislead viewers who may not realize that the content is not genuine, or at least manipulated.
Although these videos are shared by different accounts on different platforms, they look identical and appear to be created using the same AI model. This suggests a coordinated effort as the content gains traction and the message spreads.
How are these videos different?
Previously, deepfakes of Prime Minister Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and actor Rashmika Mandhana have been identified, which were used to spread false claims and commit fraud. NewsMeter has previously exposed several such videos.
These videos are different because the speeches seem more opinionated. For example, in one clip, Lachie appears to repeat government statements about fuel shortages and accuse the opposition of spreading false information. Another video appears to target the Congress over the alleged arrest of a group of Muslim youths in Varanasi for organizing a fast-breaking rally during the month of Ramadan.
Operations depend on how the message is constructed and who is communicating it. Dhruv Rashi’s portrait is used to present information in a way that positively portrays the actions of the Bharatiya Janata Party government while targeting the opposition parties. This makes your videos less detectable and allows you to influence your audience more effectively.
How do Indians distinguish between real and fake products?
In India, distinguishing between AI-generated content and real content remains a challenge for many users.
A 2024 study by cybersecurity and online protection company McAfee found that nearly 75% of Indians have encountered deepfake content online. One in four people said they encountered a political deepfake but later realized it was fake.
