FIR filed over ‘AI video’ of airport waterlogging

Noida:Police have registered a case against the creators of a Facebook page for allegedly sharing an AI-generated video falsely claiming that severe waterlogging had occurred outside Noida International Airport (NIA), officials said on Monday

Noida:

The 16-second video, shared by the Facebook page on August 14 (as per the FIR), purportedly showed a woman standing in ankle-deep water, claiming to be outside the airport. (Representational image)

Police have registered a case against the creators of a Facebook page for allegedly sharing an AI-generated video falsely claiming that severe waterlogging had occurred outside Noida International Airport (NIA), officials said on Monday.

The case was registered on the complaint of Mayank Kumar, shift in-charge of security at NIA, who alleged that the video showed a false representation of conditions at the airport and could mislead the public.

The 16-second video, shared by the Facebook page on August 14 (as per the FIR), purportedly showed a woman standing in ankle-deep water, claiming to be outside the airport. In the video, the woman is heard saying: “Is this development or an example of corruption?”

According to the FIR, accessed by HT, the social media account was “disseminating manipulated visuals and wrong information” purporting to depict incidents at the airport. The complaint alleged that the video was being widely circulated and had the potential to create “unnecessary public alarm and confusion”.

“It misled passengers, stakeholders and members of the public and damaged the reputation of Noida International Airport, which is a critical public infrastructure project,” the FIR said.

The police registered the case under Sections 336(4) and 340(2), relating to forgery, Section 353(2), relating to statements conducive to public mischief, and Section 356, relating to defamation, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Ajay Kumar Singh, station house officer of Jewar police station, said police had also written to Meta seeking details of the page owner and removal of the video. “We have written a letter to Meta to get the address and details of the page owner and asked them to remove the AI-generated content, as well as suspend the page, as it tarnishes the image of the airport and the state,” he said.

When checked by HT on Monday, the link to the Facebook post displayed a message saying, “The link may be broken or the page may have been removed.”

The case comes amid recent social media posts showing waterlogging at the airport following heavy rain. On August 11, visuals showed rainwater entering a passageway inside NIA, with airport staff using pumps to clear the water. The airport authorities confirmed that incident, saying the water was cleared within 30 minutes.

Officials, however, said the video that prompted the FIR was unrelated to that incident and had been generated to falsely suggest that extensive waterlogging had occurred outside the airport.

In his complaint, Kumar said the post was “factually incorrect” and provided the police with a link to the video. The complaint also alleged that such misinformation could cause confusion among passengers and stakeholders and harm the reputation of the airport.

Police are now seeking information from Meta to identify the person or persons behind the page and establish how the video was created and circulated.