Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has become the latest victim of the malicious creation and dissemination of deep fake content. The master blaster on Monday, January 15 took to X to address the disturbing misuse of technology, urging vigilance and swift action against the spread of misinformation as he shared a deepfake video where he can be seen advertising for a gaming app and even advocating for its ability to help people earn money.
Raising concerns over the problems posed by the insidious use of AI tools for image and video editing, Tendulkar wrote, “These videos are fake. It is disturbing to see rampant misuse of technology. Request everyone to report videos, ads & apps like these in large numbers. Social Media platforms need to be alert and responsive to complaints. Swift action from their end is crucial to stopping the spread of misinformation and deepfakes.”
These videos are fake. It is disturbing to see rampant misuse of technology. Request everyone to report videos, ads & apps like these in large numbers.
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 15, 2024
Social Media platforms need to be alert and responsive to complaints. Swift action from their end is crucial to stopping the… pic.twitter.com/4MwXthxSOM
The deepfake video shared by the cricket icon, featured him endorsing a gaming app called the Skyward Aviator Quest. Not only does Tendulkar appear to be endorsing the app in the video, but he also heard claiming that his daughter Sara is using the app these days and also earning a lot of money through it.
It’s obvious from the video that it was heavily edited to not only look but also sound like the cricket player.
Notably, Tendulkar’s case is not an isolated incident. In recent times, the malicious creation and dissemination of deepfake content, often including pornographic material, has become a potent weapon for blackmail and character defamation. Several celebrities like actors Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt and Priyanka Chopra have recently fallen prey to this deepfake menace. The severity of the issue first came to the fore after actress Rashmika Mandana highlighted how she fell victim to this targeted abuse.
In November last year, the former India cricketer daughter Sara Tendulkar also fell victim to deepfake technology when her morphed picture with rumoured boyfriend Shubman Gill went viral on social media during the ICC World Cup 2023 in November.
The original picture had Sara hugging her brother Arjun Tendulkar but his face was replaced with Gill’s by the person who morphed the picture and posted it online.
What are deep fakes?
Deep fakes, a blend of “deep learning” and “fake,” represent a concerning and rapidly evolving aspect of artificial intelligence manipulation. These sophisticated forgeries use digital software, machine learning, and face-swapping technologies to generate artificial videos that look strikingly similar to original videos of a person or an event. These videos can depict events, statements or actions that have never happened.
The term “deep fake” comes from using deep learning neural networks to swap one person’s face with another, creating a convincing illusion. Deep fakes involve training machine learning algorithms on extensive datasets of images and videos of a target individual. The algorithms analyse and learn the person’s facial expressions, gestures, and vocal nuances, enabling them to superimpose the target’s image onto another person’s body or environment. The results are incredibly realistic, making it difficult for viewers to distinguish the falseness of the content.
In November last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the threats of deep fakes in new-age digital media content. “I recently saw a video in which I was seen singing a Garba song. There are many other such videos online,” said PM Modi adding that the looming threat of Deepfake has become a great concern and can create a lot of problems for all of us.
On 7th November, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India (MeitY) issued an advisory to the social media companies. The ministry reaffirmed the existing guidelines. There are three main laws and guidelines that are in place for such fake videos. The first is Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the second is Rule 3(1)(b)(vii) of IT Intermediary Rules 2021, and the third is Rule 3(2)(b) of the IT Intermediary Rules 2021.
The Centre also said that the creation and circulation of Deepfakes carry a strong penalty – Rs 1 lakh in fine and three years in jail.
