AI and deepfakes are being increasingly used in elections elsewhere in the world, including in United States, Pakistan and Indonesia. The latest spread of the videos in India shows the challenges faced by authorities.
For years, an Indian IT ministry panel has been in place to order blocking of content that it feels can harm public order, at its own discretion or on receiving complaints. During this election, the poll watchdog and police across the nation have deployed hundreds of officials to detect and seek removal of problematic content.
While Modi’s reaction to his AI dancing video – “I also enjoyed seeing myself dance” – was light hearted, the Kolkata city police in West Bengal state launched an investigation against X user, SoldierSaffron7, for sharing the Banerjee video.
Kolkata cyber crime officer, Dulal Saha Roy, shared a typed notice on X asking the user to delete the video or “be liable for strict penal action”.
“I am not deleting that, no matter what happens,” the user told Reuters via X direct messaging, declining to share their number or real name as they feared police action. “They can’t trace (me).”
Election officers told Reuters authorities can only tell social media platforms to remove content and are left scrambling if the platforms say the posts don’t violate their internal policies.
VIGGLE VIDEOS
The Modi and Banerjee dancing videos, with 30 million and 1.1 million views respectively on X, were created using a free website, Viggle. The site allows a photograph and a few basic prompts that are detailed in a tutorial to generate videos within minutes that show the person in the photograph dancing or making other real-life moves.
Viggle co-founder Hang Chu and Banerjee’s office did not respond to Reuters queries.
Other than the two dancing AI videos, one other 25-second Viggle video spreading online shows Banerjee appear in front of a burning hospital and blowing it up using a remote. It is an AI-altered clip of a scene from the 2008 movie, The Dark Knight, that shows Batman’s foe, Joker, wreaking havoc.
The video post has 420,000 views.
The West Bengal police believe it violates Indian IT laws, but X has not taken any action as it “strongly believes in defending and respecting the voice of our users”, according to an email notice sent by X to the user, which Reuters reviewed.
“They can’t do anything to me. I didn’t take that (notice) seriously,” the user told Reuters via X direct messaging.
