DEEPFAKES, THE RISE OF A NEW TECHNOLOGICAL WEAPON

SBI recently released a cybersecurity blog focused on deepfake bank scams and frauds. It makes ample sense, given how technological tools are often changing modern society into a new era of unforeseen threats.

AI, robotics, and other new technologies are the tools of the new generation that can offer a wide range of benefit to our lives and needs. But just as a knife can be equally useful for chopping vegetables and can be misused by anyone, technological wonders are also widely misused across various platforms. Deepfakes have gained significant social traction for spreading awareness about diseases like Malaria and for restoring arts, among other uses. But at the same time, deepfake videos, such as those of actor Rashmika Mandanna which circulated in 2023, have raised huge concerns about privacy, content, consent, and potential crimes.

Deepfakes are hyper-realistic, digitally altered synthetic videos, audios, texts, or images, often created using AI, blurring the thin line between reality and engineered content. Though having huge potential for constructive uses, deepfake crimes are slowly spreading across the globe like a malicious shadow plague. And SBI's blog thus seems to make sense given that deepfake videos and audios are no longer limited to actors, politicians, or powerful businessmen today. AI-generated fake videos of businessmen like Ambani have duped individuals, including fake campaigns which erupted during the 2024 election. In addition, bank scams, impersonation by generating explicit contents, doxing campaigns, manipulations using psychological campaigns, and sextortion using deepfakes are building up the tide of modern cybercrimes. A report of the UN Women Organisation mentioned how 90-95% of global deepfakes are non-consensual pornographic images, and that 98% of all deepfake videos are pornography. The striking concern of this report lies with the fact that 99% of them target women only. Ironic how 1.8 billion women and girls globally still lack legal protection from online harassment! To summarise, deepfakes, thus, are increasingly taking shape as the new lethal digital threat, largely weaponised for forgery and online crimes, deeply affecting community psychology and individuals' security.

As of February 2026, under the IT Amendment Rules, a labelling and traceability order, including aherence to takedown order by the government/ court for prohibited content within three hours, has been introduced in India. While it is true that there is no explicit law for deepfake threats, this step is a much-needed initiative to curb online defamation, harassment, and other online crimes. The Press Information Bureau reported this measure to address deepfake threats as part of India's "aim to ensure an open, safe, trusted, and accountable cyberspace for users". But amid the tsunami of transformation brought about by new technologies, individual awareness stands at the forefront to protect oneself from potential harm. Cyber awareness is the new mode of education increasingly becoming a dire need. Users can begin by cross-verifying contents and information before trusting any online source, identifying telltale signs such as unusual movements and mismatches, including avoiding suspicious links.