Actor Vishnu Manchu, who is currently busy with his film ‘Kannappa’, has come out in support of actress Rashmika Mandana whose deepfake video recently went viral on social media.
Taking to his X, formerly Twitter, the actor in a long note voiced his concerns over the potential dangers of the deepfake technology and how its misuse can create harmful content and pose dangers to individuals in the age of the Internet and social media.
The actor wrote: “I strongly support Rashmika, who is one of the many victims of the deep fake controversy video. We at Movie Artiste Association (MAA), are deeply concerned about the misuse of technology to create such harmful content. MAA is actively collaborating with legal and AI experts to develop comprehensive guidelines on how to combat and address these issues.”
He further mentioned: “Rashmika’s case highlights the urgent need to address these concerns, and MAA will champion the fight against such videos while working to protect actors from being exploited through AI technology. Reached out to associations in the neighbouring states also to discuss this. We are dedicated to safeguarding the well-being and dignity of our industry professionals.”
The video which went viral earlier, showed Rashmika’s face morphed over the body of British-Indian Instagram influencer Zara Patel.
The video quickly gained attention as many people noticed a glitch at the start of the video when Zara’s face suddenly gets replaced with that of Rashmika.
Soon after the video went viral, Rashmika issued a statement on her social media, Taking a strong stance against the viral deepfake video of her, Rashmika penned a long note on social media as she wrote: “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.”
“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 added.