NEW DELHI – A fake video of a Bollywood actress purporting to show her wearing a low-cut top has triggered calls for artificial intelligence (AI) regulation in India, where past false social media posts have stoked sectarian divisions.

Rashmika Mandanna told her 4.7 million followers on X, formerly Twitter, that she was affected after a manipulated video showing her face on the body of another woman was widely circulated on social media, sparking outrage from the government and fellow Bollywood stars.

“We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft,” Mandanna wrote, calling it extremely scary how vulnerable everyone is to technology being misused.

Social media is hugely popular in India, the world’s largest democracy, but inflammatory posts peddling lies have stoked political divides and been accused of inciting deadly religious riots.

In 2018, a prominent female journalist and critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was harassed when edited videos of her face placed on those of naked women were widely circulated.

Like much of the world, AI is not regulated in India, and the government has put the onus of blocking online misinformation on social media platforms.

Staged videos peddling disinformation and fanning sectarian tensions garner millions of views in India, which has seen rising Hindu radicalisation under the Modi government.

Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India’s Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, wrote on X on Monday that such deep-fake videos were dangerous and damaging forms of misinformation, but said they must be dealt with by platforms.

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan called it a strong case for action.

Mandanna added that she was thankful for her family, friends and well-wishers.

“But if this had happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can’t imagine how I could ever tackle this.”

Videos with manipulated images have proliferated online worldwide, damaging reputations.

Some 95 per cent of deep-fake videos online are non-consensual pornography, and most of them depict women, according to a 2019 study by Dutch AI company Sensity.

British-Indian Instagram influencer Zara Patel, whose body was featured in the fake video with Mandanna’s face, said she was not involved in its creation and was also deeply disturbed and upset by it.

“I worry about the future of women and girls who now have to fear even more about putting themselves on social media,” Ms Patel said in a post to her 450,000 fans. AFP