Deepfake Videos of Bollywood Actors Used to Spread Election Misinformation in India
During India's 2024 general election campaign, manipulated videos featuring Bollywood actors Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh gained significant traction on social media. These videos misleadingly depicted the actors as criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi while endorsing the opposition Indian National Congress party, contributing to the ongoing challenges of misinformation in the electoral process.
What happened
During India's 2024 general election campaign, manipulated videos featuring Bollywood actors Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh circulated widely on social media. The videos falsely portrayed the actors as criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and endorsing the opposition Indian National Congress party.
According to a Reuters report published on April 22, 2024, the videos used AI-generated or manipulated audio and visual content to make the actors appear to deliver political messages they had not actually made. One video featuring Aamir Khan and another featuring Ranveer Singh reportedly criticized the government's handling of economic issues and ended with political messaging supporting the Congress party.
The videos attracted substantial attention online, with Reuters reporting that the two clips had collectively received more than half a million views. Their circulation raised concerns about the ability of synthetic media to influence public perceptions during an election, particularly when fabricated statements are attributed to well-known public figures.
Both actors publicly rejected the authenticity of the videos. Ranveer Singh warned his followers about the dangers of deepfakes, while Aamir Khan filed a police complaint concerning the misuse of his likeness. Fact-checkers and media organizations also identified the videos as inauthentic.
The incident occurred during India's large-scale general election, which began on April 19, 2024, and continued through June. The timing increased concerns that fabricated political endorsements and misleading statements could affect voter perceptions, undermine trust in public figures, and make it more difficult for citizens to distinguish authentic campaign communications from AI-generated content.
On May 6, 2024, the Election Commission of India issued directions to political parties concerning the responsible and ethical use of social media during election campaigning. The Commission specifically warned against the misuse of AI tools to create deepfakes, spread misinformation, or impersonate individuals. It directed political parties and their representatives to refrain from circulating misleading synthetic content and to take prompt action when unlawful content was identified.
The publicly documented incident illustrates how generative AI can be misused to fabricate political statements and endorsements without the consent of the people being impersonated. It also highlights the difficulty of responding to synthetic media that spreads rapidly through social networks and messaging platforms during politically sensitive periods.
Potential harms include voter deception, reputational damage to the impersonated individuals, erosion of trust in political communications, and reduced confidence in the integrity of the electoral process. The available reporting documents the circulation and reach of the videos, but it does not establish that the videos changed election results or identify a quantified number of voters who changed their decisions because of them.
The incident demonstrates the importance of verifying political content before sharing it, detecting manipulated audio and video, providing accessible reporting mechanisms, and ensuring that social media platforms respond quickly to deceptive synthetic media. It also highlights the need for transparency, accountability, and effective enforcement of election-related rules governing AI-generated content.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.