Jilted lover held for sharing deepfake photos of woman, her friends

Digital Desk: Police in Karnataka's Belagavi district have detained a 22-year-old ex-boyfriend for reportedly taking deepfake pictures of a girl and her companions, modifying them with obscene images, and sharing them on social media after she turned down his approaches.

The girl was blackmailed with photographs of herself and her friends being shared on social media if her proposition was rejected, according to the authorities. The accused altered the photos of the girl and her companions using deepfake software created by artificial intelligence.

The victim went to the police and filed a case after the accused released the photos on social media under the girl's fakeaccount after she turned down his proposal.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Belagavi Rural Bheemashankar Guled discussed the event by saying, "Social media has been misused in an incident in Khanapur where the accused was in love with a girl and she was not responding to his love." The accused was furious and told her that she and her pals will pay a heavy price for this."

"He published altered photos to a fake social media account he made using the girl's identity. Using a deepfake software that alters images and videos, the accused had altered the girls' photographs. He modified their features to reveal their naked photos, which he then shared on social media. He posted his friends' nude photos from her fictitious social media page to put pressure on the lady he was in love with," he said.

Following receipt of the report, the accused, who works for a private company in Bengaluru, was taken into custody by the cybercrime section.

Deepfake software built by AI has become popular after a video of actress Rashmika Mandhana went viral on social media. The Delhi Police filed a formal complaint about the matter last week, and more investigation is now under progress.

Deepfake is a digital technique that uses artificial intelligence technology to successfully replace a person's likeness with another's.

Even the government has sent social media companies a strong warning, emphasising the laws that control these kinds of deepfakes and the consequences that go along with them.