Rashmika Mandanna reacts on her viral deepfake video: 'Extremely scary not only for me'

Actor Rashmika Mandanna, known for her work in movies like Allu Arjun's Pushpa and Thalapathy Vijay's Varisu, on Monday has reacted to the viral deepfake video circulating on social media platforms such as X formerly known as Twitter. Mandanna said that this is "extremely scary" for everyone who is vulnerable to so many challenges given how technology is being misused. 

"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," Mandanna said in her post on X. 

She also thanked her family, friends and well-wishers for protecting and supporting her. Mandanna added that she cannot imagine what she would do if this happened to her when she was in school or college.

"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," she further noted. 

Mandanna's tweet came hours after Union Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that social media platforms need to deal with such "damaging misinformation". He also said that the Narendra Modi-led central government is "committed to ensuring safety and trust of all DigitalNagriks using internet". 

Citing IT rules notified in April 2023, the Union Minister said that social media platforms have a legal obligation to ensure that no misinformation is posted by any user. Social media platforms are also obligated to ensure that when an individual or a government reports misinformation, it should be removed within 36 hours of notifying so. 

"Deepfakes are latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and needs to be dealt with by platforms," he said towards the end of his post.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar was responding to a tweet by Abhishek Kumar, a journalist and researcher. Kumar shared the video on X which featured Mandanna donning a black outfit and entering an elevator.

He said that the video which purportedly features Rashmika Mandanna is actually a deepfake of a British-Indian model Zara Patel. Patel has around 415,000 followers on Instagram and had posted a similar video on her social media account last month. 

"From a deepfake POV, the viral video is perfect enough for ordinary social media users to fall for it. But if you watch the video carefully, you can see at (0:01) that when Rashmika (deepfake) was entering the lift, suddenly her face changes from the other girl to Rashmika," Kumar explained. 

Apart from Chandrasekhar, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan also expressed his concern after Mandanna's deepfake video went viral on X. Bachchan said that this is a "strong case for legal". 

Also Read: 'More dangerous and damaging': MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar on deepfake video featuring 'Pushpa' actor Rashmika Mandanna