A fake video circulating online shows two top Indian Bollywood actors criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urging people to vote for the opposition Congress party in the ongoing general election. ing.
Watch ARY News Live at live.arynews.tv
In a 30-second video that shows another 41-second clip of Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh, the two Bollywood actors say that Prime Minister Modi has not kept his election promises during his two terms as prime minister, and that he has failed to deliver on key economic issues. He is said to have claimed that he was unable to address the issue.
Both AI-generated videos end with the parliamentary election symbol and slogan, “Vote for Justice, Vote for Congress.”
The two videos have been viewed more than 500,000 times on social media since last week, according to a Reuters investigation.
These proliferations highlight the potential role such AI-generated content could play in India's massive elections, which begin on Friday and run through June. AI and AI-generated fakes, or deepfakes, are increasingly being used in elections in other parts of the world, including the United States, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
Election campaigns in India have long focused on door-to-door campaigning and public rallies, but it was only in 2019 that WhatsApp and Facebook began to be widely used as campaign tools. This year's general election, in which Mr. Modi is expected to win an unusual third term, will be the first to utilize AI.
Congress spokesperson Sujata Paul shared a video of actor Singh with her 16,000 followers on X on April 17, and by Saturday afternoon, her post had been reshared 2,900 times and liked 8,700 times. '' and has been viewed 438,000 times.
Paul told Reuters he was aware the video was marked as “manipulated media” by X, but said in the post that the person was a Singh lookalike and that “there is definitely some creativity.” He told me over the phone that he didn't want to delete it because he thought so. '.
The post was made unavailable on X on Sunday, hours after Reuters sent a request for comment to parliament's social media director, who did not respond.
Both actors claimed the video was fake. Facebook, X and at least eight fact-checking websites have said they have been tampered with or manipulated, and Reuters' digital verification department has confirmed it.
Reuters was unable to identify the person who made the video. Spokespeople for both actors said Khan was “alarmed” by the “fake” video that had gone viral and that Singh's team was looking into the matter. “Beware of deepfakes,” Singh wrote to X on Friday.
Prime Minister Modi's office and the Bharatiya Janata Party's IT department chief did not respond to requests for comment.
police investigation
almost
900 million people in India have access to the internet, and a study conducted by research institute Esya Center and Indian Institute of Management Business shows that on average Indians spend more than three hours a day on social media. is shown. There are about 1 billion voters in this country.
Some versions of the videos have been blocked on social media, but at least 14 were still available for viewing on X as of Saturday. Facebook removed two videos that Reuters reported to the company, but the other one was still visible.
Facebook said in a statement that it had “removed the video” for violating its policies. X did not respond to Reuters inquiries.
The videos triggered a police investigation, and Khan filed a case against an anonymous person in Mumbai on April 17 on charges of impersonation and fraud by creating fake videos.
Mumbai Police did not respond to requests for comment, but two anonymous police officers working on Khan's case said they had written to Facebook and X to remove the video, and both companies said they had completed the deletion. Stated.
Officers said they stayed up until 2 a.m. Friday refreshing pages to see if Khan's online videos had been deleted. When asked about the progress of the case, one of them said, “Such technical investigations take time.”
AI video of deceased father
Politicians are leveraging AI in other ways in this year's elections.
In southern India, a spokesperson for Congress leader Vijay Vasanthakumar said his team had used AI to create a two-minute audio-video clip and shared it on social media platforms, adding that the now-defunct president of the country has created a two-minute audio-video clip and shared it on social media platforms. He said the footage shows his father H. Vasanthakumar, a popular politician, seeking votes for him. .
The late politician is seen saying, “Even though my body has left you, my soul is still here.”
In a video posted on YouTube by the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM), Samata, an AI-generated anchor who wears a traditional sari and speaks in a style that mimics a regular news channel, criticizes the ruling party in West Bengal. There is.
In one clip, the anchor claimed that the party does not care about the environment as many water bodies have disappeared due to illegal construction.
A ruling party spokesperson denied the allegations and said the state government had given assurances that no such construction would take 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 need to ponder.”
India to re-hold elections in 11 locations in Manipur after violence
