DNA Special: How safe are social media platforms and apps?

Several women across the world today are facing an extremely grave problem. There are allegations that artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to morph photographs and videos of women and posted on the app called Telegram. According to an estimate, about 1 lakh women have gone through this ordeal. Such videos made with the help of AI are called Deep Fake. 

Surprisingly, there isn't a method to pull down such videos and photographs from the apps once uploaded. 

According to an estimate, about 180 crore photos are uploaded every week on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, which is equal to the entire population of the world. The number of pictures shared by women on social media is far more compared to men. Women share their pictures oblivious of the fact that they can easily be hacked and morphed by cybercriminals with the help of the Deep Fake technology.

Until recently Telegram app was considered to be safer than WhatsApp. But the Deep Fake revelation has raised a big question on the safety and security of social media platforms and apps.

If there is an objectionable content uploaded to the internet, it is nearly impossible to erase it completely. You can at the most, under the IT Act of India request the authorities to remove the objectionable content. But there are millions of websites from where removing such content will be a hard and long-fought battle.

A perfect example of this case is the famous Malayalam film industry actress Sona M Abraham. About 6 years back the actress had performed an intimate scene in a film on the pretext of the raw footage being deleted the moment the shoot finishes. However, the director and the producer of the film were careless in their approach and the scene was not deleted. After a year the raw footage of the intimate scene performed by Abraham somehow found its way on to the internet, particularly the youtube.

The actress and her family immediately approached the police to remove the content from the internet but to no avail. Six years down the line the video has still not been removed successfully. 

According to Sona Abraham, she was a minor (14-year-old) when she did the film and the scene was leaked. Ideally, a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act should have been registered. Apart from this, Section 67 B of IT Act -guilty of uploading obscene material on the internet including that of children - should have also been imposed on the accused. Unfortunately, these acts weren't imposed and the accused got bail.  

The Deep Fake technology is not only a tool to target women but celebrities and men are also facing a similar ordeal. Former US President Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the United States House of Representatives) have also become a victim of video tampering. 

Interestingly, the US President Donald Trump after seeing the fake video of Nancy Pelosi assumed it to be real and had tweeted that Pelosi was stammering. Later, trump's supporters alleged on social media that Nancy Pelosi was drunk.

The video was merely tampered and no Deep Fake technology was used. But the extent of the damage it created was huge. There was a time when audio and video footage was considered admissible in a court of law. Sadly, it is losing its credibility now.

Deep Fake has become a dangerous weapon where one can use it to malign someone. What is even more horrifying is that there are cheap softwares available to help make and upload such contents on the internet.

A couple of remedies can be kept in mind while uploading pictures. The first thing to bear in mind is that the picture should not be in high resolution, secondly, selfies should be avoided as they give a very clear picture which becomes easy to manipulate and thirdly long shots should be preferred instead of close ones.

In times of emergency, there are a few places where you can seek help. Social media platforms have an option to report such content so the moment you spot something it should be reported. And if it is not resolved, the victim can approach the Cyber Cell Department or can report on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India can also be approached. Most importantly you can register an FIR in the case at the nearest police station.