Zara Patel, a British-Indian influencer, has expressed her distress over a viral deepfake video that morphs her face onto the body of actor Rashmika Mandanna. In a statement on Instagram, Patel said she had no involvement in the creation of the video and was “deeply disturbed and upset” by it.
She urged social media users to be vigilant and to fact-check everything they see online, noting that “not everything on the internet is real.”
The deepfake video shows Patel entering an elevator, but with Mandanna’s face superimposed over her own. The video is extremely convincing and has been shared widely on social media.
Patel’s reaction highlights the dangers of deepfake technology, which can be used to create realistic but fake videos of people saying or doing things that they never actually said or did. Deepfakes can be used for a variety of malicious purposes, such as spreading misinformation, damaging someone’s reputation, or even blackmailing them.
Mandanna also issued a statement on the deepfake, calling it “extremely scary” and expressing concern about the misuse of technology.
The video was first exposed by journalist Abhishek Kumar, who debunked the clip as fake in a viral Twitter thread.
