The Gujarat Police has registered a first information report against a person for sharing a satirical deepfake video of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the state’s home minister Harsh Sanghavi said on Tuesday.
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.
The account on social media platform X where the video was posted identified the person, who was booked, as Chirag Patel. The video appeared to have been manipulated using artificial intelligence technology, to show Sitharaman purportedly speaking with reporters about the Union government halting the monthly press releases on Goods and Services Tax collections.
In the video, a likeness of the finance minister was seen describing GST as “Gopaniya Soochna Tax”, or confidential information tax, and urging citizens to “respect the privacy of this government”.
The video has now been labelled as “manipulated media” on X.
The original video was of a content creator named Garima who posts satirical videos.
On Tuesday, Sanghavi said on social media: “This deceptive act of spreading deep fake videos to mislead citizens is abhorrent.”
“Let’s not fall prey to such manipulative tactics and prioritise truth and accountability in our digital spaces,” said the Gujarat minister. “Together, we can combat misinformation and safeguard the trust of the public.”
In December, the Centre issued an advisory to all social media platforms to comply with the Information Technology Rules amid “growing concerns around misinformation powered by AI-deepfakes”.
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