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Bajrang Punia reacts to Rashmika Mandanna deepfake video: 'Extremely concerning'
Rashmika Mandanna deepfake video: Earlier, actors Mrunal Thakur, Naga Chaitanya and singer Chinmayi Sripada backed Mandanna over the incident.
Wrestler Bajrang Punia on Tuesday is the latest public figure to voice concern after the "Pushpa: The Rise" actor Rashmika Mandanna's deepfake video went viral on social media over the weekend.
“This is an extremely concerning and serious issue especially considering women safety and privacy,” Punia wrote on social media X, urging the Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Home Affairs to take “appropriate measure to prevent such incidences in future and take strict action against the culprits”.
Earlier, actors Mrunal Thakur, Naga Chaitanya and singer Chinmayi Sripada backed Mandanna over the incident.
Mandanna's "Goodbye" co-star Amitabh Bachchan was the first to react after a fact checker posted the deepfake clip along with the original video of a British-Indian social media personality Zara Patel and emphasised the need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfakes in India.
Thakur praised Mandanna for speaking up and urged people to not be silent spectators as morphed videos of female actors float around on the internet zooming inappropriately on body parts.
"Thank you @rashmika_mandanna for speaking up, for addressing this issue that so far we have seen glimpses of but a lot of us chose to remain silent... Where are we heading as a community, as a society?
"We may be actresses in the 'limelight' but at the end of the day each one of us are human. Why aren't we talking about it? Don't remain silent, now is not the time," Thakur wrote on her Instagram Story.
On Monday, Mandanna wrote a lengthy note on the microblogging site X, saying she was "really hurt" to see the video, which shows a woman, dressed in a black workout onesie, stepping inside an elevator. Patel's face was morphed using artificial intelligence (AI) to resemble the actor.
"Today as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well wishers who are my protection and support system.
"But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can't imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity," Mandanna further said in her post.
Deepfake is a digital method where users can replace one person's likeness convincingly with that of another using AI technology.
Patel, on whose body Mandanna's face was morphed, also condemned the deepfake video and said she had "no involvement" with the clip.
"Hi all, it has come to my attention that someone created a deepfake video using my body and a popular Bollywood actress's face. I had no involvement with the deepfake video, and I'm deeply disturbed and upset by what is happening (sic)" the model wrote on her Instagram Story on Monday night.
"I worry about the future of women and girls who now have to fear even more about putting themselves on social media. Please take a step back and fact-check what you see on the internet. Not everything on the internet is real. I'm deeply upset by what is happening," Patel added in her post.
Chaitanya said it was disheartening to see how technology is being misused and the thought of what this can progress to in the future is even scarier.
"Action has to be taken and some kind of law has to be enforced to protect people who have and will be a victim to this. Strength to you," he wrote in his reply to Mandanna's X post.
In her post, Chinmayi described deepfake as "the next weapon" to target and blackmail girls in India.
"Loan apps harass women borrowers with photoshopped images of their faces over porn photos and they cant deal with that. But a Deep Fake is going to be tougher for the usual untrained eye to spot. Everyone doesn't have high-res displays (sic)" the singer wrote on the microblogging site.
Meanwhile, minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday said social media companies are bound to remove any misinformation and ensure that if any misinformation reported to them by any user or the government it is taken down within 36 hours.
"Under the IT rules notified in April 2023 it is a legal obligation for platforms to ensure no misinformation is posted by any user and ensure that when reported by any user or govt, misinformation is removed in 36 hrs," he wrote on X..
"Deepfakes are the latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and need to be dealt with by platforms," he said.
Mandanna expressed concern over her fake video in circulation.
