A deepfake pornographic video falsely depicting Indian journalist Rana Ayyub was created and widely circulated on social media, causing severe harassment, health issues, and forcing her to self-censor her reporting.
In April 2018, a deepfake pornographic video was created showing the face of Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayyub superimposed on a young woman's body in a sex act. The video was created after Ayyub appeared on BBC and Al Jazeera criticizing India's handling of a child rape case. The deepfake was initially circulated within political circles of the ruling BJP party before spreading widely on social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The video was shared over 40,000 times and appeared on approximately half of all cellphones in India within 48 hours. Ayyub was subsequently doxxed with her phone number shared alongside screenshots from the video, leading to harassment messages asking for sexual services. The incident caused severe physical and psychological harm to Ayyub, requiring hospitalization for heart palpitations and anxiety. Police initially refused to file a complaint and showed the video in front of her with visible smirks. The UN intervened with 16 special rapporteurs writing to the Indian government, which helped reduce the abuse. The incident forced Ayyub to significantly self-censor her journalism and avoid social media platforms.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
Using AI systems to gain a personal advantage over others such as through cheating, fraud, scams, blackmail or targeted manipulation of beliefs or behavior. Examples include AI-facilitated plagiarism for research or education, impersonating a trusted or fake individual for illegitimate financial benefit, or creating humiliating or sexual imagery.
Human
Due to a decision or action made by humans
Intentional
Due to an expected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed