In a fake video that went viral online, two A-list Bollywood actors criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked people to vote for the opposition Congress party in the country’s ongoing general elections.
In a 30-second video and another 41-second video of Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh, the two Bollywood actors allegedly said that Modi was the two-time prime minister During his term, he failed to fulfill his campaign promises and failed to solve key economic problems.
Both AI-generated videos end with congressional election symbols and slogans: “Vote for justice, vote for Congress.”
According to Reuters, the two videos have been viewed more than 500,000 times on social media since last week.
Their spread highlights the potential role such AI-generated content can play in India’s massive elections, which begin on Friday and will last until June. Artificial intelligence and AI-generated forgeries (or deepfakes) are increasingly used in elections elsewhere around the world, including in the United States, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Election campaigns in India have long focused on door-to-door campaigns and public rallies, but starting in 2019 began the widespread use of WhatsApp and Facebook as campaign tools. This year’s election — in which Modi is expected to secure a rare third term — is, first and foremost, the use of artificial intelligence.
Congress spokesperson Sujata Paul shared a video of actor Singh with her 16,000 followers on Reached 438,000 times.
Paul told Reuters by phone that she knew the video had been flagged by an
The post was no longer visible on X on Sunday, hours after Reuters sent a request for comment to the head of the congressional social media panel, who did not respond.
Both actors said the videos were fake. Facebook, X and at least eight fact-checking sites have said they were altered or manipulated, which was confirmed by Reuters’ digital verification unit.
Reuters was unable to determine who produced the videos. Khan was “shocked” by the viral “fake” video, and Singh’s team is investigating the matter, according to a spokesperson for both actors. “Friends, beware of deepfakes,” Singh wrote on X on Friday.
Modi’s office and the BJP’s IT chief did not respond to requests for comment.
police investigation
Nearly 900 million people in India have access to the Internet, and a survey conducted by the research organization Esya Center and the Indian Institute of Management Business School shows that the average Indian spends more than three hours a day on social media. The country has nearly a billion voters.
Some versions of the videos have been blocked on social media, but at least 14 versions were still visible on Saturday’s X. Facebook removed two videos flagged by Reuters to the company, but another remains visible.
Facebook said in a statement that it had “removed these videos” for violating its policies. X did not respond to inquiries from Reuters.
The videos triggered a police investigation and Khan registered a case against unnamed people in Mumbai on April 17 for allegedly impersonating and cheating in making fake videos.
Mumbai police did not respond to requests for comment, but two police officers working on Khan’s case, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they had written to Facebook and X asking for the video to be removed, and the companies had said they had removed the video.
Officers said they worked until 2 a.m. Friday, refreshing the page to check whether Khan’s online videos had been deleted. Asked about the progress of the case, one of the officials said: “Such technical investigations take time.”
Artificial Intelligence Video of Late Father
In this year’s elections, politicians are using AI in other ways.
In southern India, a spokesman for Congress leader Vijay Vasanth said his team used artificial intelligence to create a 2-minute audio-video clip and shared it on social media platforms showing him now deceased but more popular. Popular politician father H. Vasanthakumar is seeking votes for him.
“Although my body has left all of you, my soul remains,” the late politician said.
In a video posted by the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) on YouTube, AI-generated anchor Samata, wearing a traditional sari and speaking in a manner that mimics a regular news channel, criticizes the ruling party in West Bengal.
In one video, the anchor claimed that the party did not care about the environment as many water bodies were disappearing due to illegal construction.
A spokesman for the ruling party denied the allegation and said the state government had ensured that no such construction would take place. The CPM did not respond to a request for comment.
In the video, which has been viewed 12,000 times, anchor Samata declares: “These are questions we as citizens of this city need to think about.”
(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi, Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru and Dhwani Pandya in Mumbai; Additional reporting by Hardik Vyas, Carmel Jaeslin B, Arpan Chaturvedi, Rishika Sadam, Shivangi Acharya, Jatindra Dash, Subrata Nag Choudhury; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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