Rashmika Mandanna Finally Speaks On Her Viral Deepfake Video, Says This Is Extremely Scary

A viral deepfake video of Rashmika Mandanna wearing a fitted black plunging neckline outfit entering an elevator has been doing the rounds on the internet for quite some time. Many angry fans of the actress have reacted to the fake video as it seemed edited. Recently, a fact-check journalist with AltNews, Abhishek Kumar, exposed Rashmika’s deepfake video with the original one on the social media platform X (previously Twitter) suggesting the need for legal action for deepfake incidents in India.

He posted the video saying,

“You might have seen this viral video of actress Rashmika Mandanna on Instagram. But wait, this is a deepfake video of Zara Patel.”

🚨 There is an urgent need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfake in India.

You might have seen this viral video of actress Rashmika Mandanna on Instagram. But wait, this is a deepfake video of Zara Patel.

This thread contains the actual video. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/SidP1Xa4sT

— Abhishek (@AbhishekSay) November 5, 2023

The original video was of a British-Indian influencer Zara Patel that she posted in October. The face of the woman in the video was morphed into Rashmika’s face which gained millions of views. The journalist’s fact-check post was flooded with reactions from other users who were concerned about the increasing AI usage for creating such videos.

Among the comments, the Animal actress’s co-star Amitabh Bachchan also expressed his concern by demanding legal action on such incidents.

IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar also reacted to the cybercrime

He wrote,

The Narendra Modi-led government is committed to ensuring the Safety and Trust of all DigitalNagriks using the Internet. Under the IT rules notified in April, 2023 – 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 hours; If platforms do not comply with this, rule 7 will apply and platforms can be taken to court by aggrieved person under provisions of IPC; Deep fakes are latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and needs to be dealt with by platforms

PM @narendramodi ji’s Govt is committed to ensuring Safety and Trust of all DigitalNagriks using Internet

Under the IT rules notified in April, 2023 – it is a legal obligation for platforms to

➡️ensure no misinformation is posted by any user AND

➡️ensure that when reported by… https://t.co/IlLlKEOjtd

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) November 6, 2023

Finally, Rashmika Mandanna took to her social media accounts on 6 November and reacted to her deepfake video that went viral

On her Instagram story and social media platform ‘X’, Rashmika wrote,

“I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online.”

She further added,

“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 misused. Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well-wishers, who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can’t imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft”

The Pushpa actress highlighted the need to address this issue as a community before more individuals become victims of such fake videos. In her tweet, she even tagged relevant authorities, including Cyberabad Police, cyber safety handle @Cyberdost, and Maharashtra Cyber.

Here is Rashmika’s official statement on her viral deepfake video:

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.…

— Rashmika Mandanna (@iamRashmika) November 6, 2023

Rashmika’s reaction has now taken the internet by storm. These deepfake incidents surely need to be taken into account more seriously as it is a dangerous cybercrime.