Trashing a deepfake video that showed him endorsing a new app and narrating how it had helped his daughter Sara earn easy money, Sachin Tendulkar on Monday dubbed the video as “fake”, said it reflected “rampant misuse of technology” and called for swift action to stop spread of misinformation.
Taking to “X” ( former Twitter), Tendulkar tore into a deepfake video featuring endorsing the gaming app “Skyward Aviator Quest” that has been making rounds on various social media platforms, termed it as “fake” and asked the agencies concerned to act swiftly against the imposters creating and spreading such “fake” content.
An apparent AI creation, the fake video — which Tendulkar made mince meat of — carried a voice that is strikingly similar to that of the master blaster. In the video, the legendary cricketer is shown purportedly saying: “These days everyone is talking about my daughter playing Skyward Aviator Quest and earning as much as Rs 1,80,000 every day, Sometimes I wonder how easy it has become to make big money. It is interesting to know that this application comes free. Any I-phone owner can download this App”.
Calling the video as “fake”, Tendulkar wrote on his “X” handle: “These videos are fake. It is disturbing to see rampant misuse of technology. Request everyone to report videos, ads & apps like these in large numbers”
Lamenting that lack of alertness and responsiveness on the part of the social media platforms to deal with complaints against this kind of “fake” videos, the cricketer called for “swift action to stop spread of misinformation and deepfakes.
“Social Media platforms need to be alert and responsive to complaints. Swift action from their end is crucial to stopping the spread of misinformation and deepfakes,” Tendulkar wrote, as he tagged Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Maharashtra Cyber Crime.
Significantly enough, this is not for the first time that the Tendulkars have fallen victim to deepfakes. In the third week of November last year, Sara Tendulkar had taken to Instagram to call out fake Twitter accounts spreading misinformation using her name.
Sara, who has 5.9 million followers on Instagram, had expressed serious concern over the social media activity being done by accounts impersonating her.
“Social media is a wonderful space for all of us to share our joys, sorrows and daily activities. However, it is disconcerting to see the misuse of technology as it takes away from the truth and authenticity of the internet. I have come across some deepfake photos of me which are far from reality,” Sara wrote in a detailed statement.
Maintaining that she does not have an account on “X”, Sara wrote: “A few accounts on X (formerly Twitter) have obviously been created with an intent to impersonate me and mislead people. I do not have an account on X, and I hope X looks into such accounts and suspends them.”
“Entertainment should never come at the expense of the truth. Let’s encourage communication that’s based in trust and reality,” she added.