There is no doubt that the dissemination of images and fake content, but with a very realistic aspect, is increasing with the proliferation of deepfake videos. Now the technique has arrived in India, with two videos of Bharatiya Janata party president supposedly criticizing the government of Arvind Kejriwal, the day before an election.
The videos, with Manoj Tiwari speaking English and Indian separately, went viral on WhatsApp the day before the Delhi Legislative Assembly elections on 7 February. On a YouTube channel, it is possible to access the three contents, in both languages, but it is also possible to compare with what they say is the original. See the manipulated video, in English.
"Kejriwal betrayed us regarding his promises, but now Delhi has an opportunity to change. So just vote for the right option on February 8 to form a government led by Modi." These were some of the phrases that the technique managed to make seem, really true, and said by the party president. However, in the alleged original video it is possible to verify that everything was just a manipulation.
To the Vice, the co-responsible for the social networks and information technologies of Manoj Tiwari's party, explains that Haryanvi's videos appear to be convincing, with the reader unlikely to question his authenticity. But how many people may have seen this content? According to Neelkant Bakshi, the videos were shared by 5,800 WhatsApp groups, reaching about 15 million people. The objective was mainly to dissuade migrant workers from voting for the rival political party.
With this technique growing, notably in the area of ​​politics, but also in pornography, the United States of America was among the first to move forward with legal measures to prevent the proliferation of these manipulated videos in 2019. One of the laws makes the distribution of videos illegal manipulated who intend to discredit a political candidate and deceive voters, but only in the 60 days before an election.
More recently, it was Twitter's turn to declare "war" on the manipulated content, announcing new rules that come into force on March 5. All tweets that contain some type of manipulated content will now have a warning in order to alert the public and prevent the spread of false information.
