Man accused in Rashmika Mandanna's deepfake video case arrested by Delhi Police

The main accused in the case related to actor Rashmika Mandanna's deepfake video was arrested by the Delhi Police in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday. A deepfake video of Mandanna went viral on social media in November 2023. In the video, the face of a British-Indian influencer, Zara Patel, in a black workout dress, was edited and replaced with that of the Bollywood actor.

After the incident, the Delhi Police filed a case in the matter under sections 465 (forgery) and 469 (harming reputation) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and sections 66C (identity theft) and 66E (privacy violation) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

Rashmika Mandanna, who is well-known for her parts in films like "Pushpa," "Mission Majnu," and "Animal," voiced her worries about technological abuse after her deepfake video went viral. Mandanna expressed on social media that she was "really hurt" to view the footage.

The government was also compelled by the video to send a strong warning to social media companies about the laws that control these kinds of deepfakes and the consequences that go along with them.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar in December met social media platforms to review progress made by them in tackling misinformation and deepfakes, and asserted that advisories will be issued in the next two days to ensure 100 per cent compliance by platforms.

Deepfake is a digital technique that uses artificial intelligence (AI) technology to convincingly replace one person's likeness with another. The term gained prominence in 2017 when a Reddit user introduced a platform for sharing manipulated videos.

Besides Mandanna, deepfake videos of Katrina Kaif, Amitabh Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra and even Sachin Tendulkar have gone viral on the internet in recent weeks.