The Mumbai Police on Wednesday filed a first information report against an unidentified person in connection with a deepfake video of actor Aamir Khan that purportedly shows him promoting a political party, PTI reported.
A 27-second clip shared on social media, which appeared to have been edited using artificial intelligence technology, purportedly showed Khan urging voters to be careful of “jumlas”, or empty promises. A spokesperson for the actor, however, said that the video was fake.
The BJP’s opponents have frequently taken digs at it using the word “jumla” since former party chief Amit Shah used the term soon after the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Shah had then said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a “jumla” when he commented that Rs 15 lakh would be deposited to each Indian’s bank account if black money stashed in foreign banks could be brought back.
A spokesperson for Khan said on Tuesday that after the deepfake video came to light, the actor reported the matter to several authorities and filed a complaint with the Mumbai Police’s cyber crime cell.
“We want to clarify that Mr Aamir Khan has never endorsed any political party throughout his 35-year career,” the spokesperson said, according to PTI. “He has dedicated his efforts to raising awareness through Election Commission public awareness campaigns for many past elections."
Deepfakes are techniques to manipulate audio and video content with the help of artificial intelligence software to show people saying or doing things that they never said or did. The content is made to appear as realistic as possible and is often used with malicious intent.
On Wednesday, the police registered a case at the Khar police station under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to impersonation and cheating and provisions of the Information Technology Act.
The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases between April 19 and June 1. The results will be declared on June 4.
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