Rashmika Mandanna's deepfake video has been making rounds on social media.
Actor Amitabh Bachchan has demanded legal action after a deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna started circulating on social media. The video shows a woman, wearing a black outfit, entering a lift. However, her face has been morphed and edited in a way that it resembles the actress. Several users on the internet claimed that the video was fake raises questions on how "unreliable" information is spreading rapidly on the internet. Mr Bachchan reposted the video and said "yes this is a strong case for legal."
The woman in the original video is a British-Indian woman Zara Patel, who has a massive following on social media. Ms Patel had uploaded the video on October 9. If one looks at the video, it is extremely difficult to spot the edited version of Ms Mandanna and hence makes it easier for social media users to fall for it. However on close observation, one can notice when the woman enters the lift, suddenly her face changes to the face of the 'Goodbye' actress.
Rashmika Mandanna reacted to the same and called it "extremely scary." "I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused," she wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, a lot of people were shocked to notice this and demanded action from the authorities.
"Ok this is terrifying," said a user.
"It's crazy how real this video looks!" remarked another person.
A third added, "It's extremely worrying how unreliable online information is getting."
"Scariest thing ull see on the internet ... its all here now .. we used to joke about morphing etc now this is another level," added another user.
"This is horrifying for content creators and actors whose personality rights and even content/videos are in public sphere. The worst part is that the current setup is not even strong enough to criminalize people who attempt such deepfake videos. We need proper regulation," commented a person.
A person said, "High quality deep fake, very disturbing. i think the powerful will use it to their advantage and the ordinary person will suffer. Enough to destroy anyone."