A few days after the film industry was rocked by a deepfake video purporting to show Rashmika Mandanna, another photo that has been digitally altered has appeared online. This one shows Katrina Kaif from her next movie, Tiger 3.
The Bollywood actress and a Hollywood stuntwoman are shown fighting in the original photo while both are covered in towels. Instead of the towel, Kaif is shown in the modified version—which has gone viral—wearing a low-cut white bralette and matching underwear.
Anger has erupted on social media in response to Katrina’s deepfake picture. A number of individuals voiced their severe criticism of the photo editing. One person said, “Katrina Kaif’s towel scene from Tiger 3 gets morphed. The deepfake picture is garnering attention, and it’s really shameful. AI is a great tool, but using it to morph women is an outright criminal offence. I feel disgusted.” Another added, “This needs to stop, shameful.”
Another commented, “Deepfake is really scary! I need to take precautions, I think!” Someone added, “I completely agree with her. AI is becoming increasingly dangerous day by day.”
In the instance of Rashmika Mandanna, a deepfake video showed a black-clad lady entering an elevator. But the actor’s visage had been digitally modified to seem like hers. The phony nature of the video was soon discovered by a number of social media users, underscoring the ease with which “unreliable” material may proliferate online. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan also demanded that the altered video’s distribution be stopped by legal action. As for Rashmika, she called the scenario “very scary.”
Union Minister of State for Information Technology and Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar wrote to X, “PM Narendra Modi ji’s Govt is committed to ensuring Safety and Trust of all DigitalNagriks using Internet.”
He added, “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. If platforms do not comply with this, rule 7 will apply and platforms can be taken to court by aggrieved persons under provisions of IPC. Deepfakes are the latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and need to be dealt with by platforms.”
