A day after actor Rashmika Mandanna's deep fake video went viral on social media, the woman who was seen in the original video responded to the morphed clip. In a statement on Instagram, Zara Patel said she is ''deeply disturbed'' and ''upset'' by the incident, and urged social media users to verify things on the internet.
"I worry about the future of women and girls who now have to fear even more about putting themselves on social media. Please take a step back and fact-check what you see on the internet. Not everything on the internet is real," she added.
For those unaware, a video recently went viral that appeared to show Rashmika Mandanna entering an elevator. However, the woman in the video -- which was created using the deepfake technology -- was actually Zara Patel and not Ms Mandanna.
Who is Zara Patel?
Zara Patel is a British-Indian influencer with more than 4.5 lakh followers on Instagram. She is known for sharing bold content on the platform. According to her Insta bio, she is also a full-time Data Engineer and a mental health advocate.
Other than that, she is also active in the creation of adult content for her followers. She has provided a secret link on her Instagram account that allows users to access her explicit content and chat with her.
Original video
On October 9, Ms Patel Zara Patel shared a video that showed her entering a lift in a black outfit. She had shared the post with the caption, ''POV: you almost close the elevator door on me again….''. However, in the morphed clip circulating on the internet, her face has been swapped with Ms Mandanna.
Rashmika Mandanna, reacting to this deepfake video, wrote on X, ''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.''
Deepfakes are photos or videos altered to replace a person or an element using Artificial Intelligence. In recent days, they have become a major source of misinformation and are often associated with fake viral posts. Previously, several celebrities like Tom Hanks, Kristen Bell, etc have also been victims of such incidents.
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