New Delhi:
The women leaders of the country are being targeted by some mischievous elements in Pakistan. Obscene videos of women leaders are being shared through deepfake videos so that women leaders can be defamed. Due to such work, Pakistani politician Azma Bukhari is worried because he has created a fake image of himself. Something similar is happening with Azma Bukhari, one of the few women leaders of the country. He alleges that an obscene deepfake video has been released to defame him.
Punjab minister breaks down after watching deepfake video
48-year-old Bukhari, the information minister of Pakistan’s most populous province Punjab, says that when this matter came to my knowledge, I was heartbroken.
The trend of deepfake videos increased
Artificial Intelligence i.e. AI or Artificial Intelligence is now gradually coming into the mainstream of the society. Through deepfake, real audio, photo or video of people is being created in a wrong form. These videos initially appear believable and may mislead people.
Deepfakes become a weapon to accuse women of sexual harassment
In Pakistan, where such deepfakes media literacy is very low or in simple words where there is lack of knowledge among the common people about such technology, there is a weapon to accuse women working in the public sector of sexual harassment. is being built. This is deeply damaging his reputation in a country that follows conservative customs. It can be understood that a lot of damage is being caused to the social reputation of women through such videos.
Bukhari remained silent for many days
Bukhari, who often appears on TV, says she remembers how she remained silent for days after watching a video of an Indian actor superimposing her face on a body in a clip that was spreading rapidly on social media.
“It was very difficult, I was sad,” she told AFP at her home in the eastern city of Lahore. My daughter, she hugged me and said, Mother, you have to fight this.
After initially backing down, Bukhari filed his case in the Lahore High Court and tried to get those spreading deepfakes punished. She says that when I go to court, I have to remind people again and again that I have a fake video.”
Internet usage increased with the arrival of 4G in Pakistan
It is noteworthy that in Pakistan, a country of 240 million people, internet usage has increased surprisingly recently due to cheap 4G mobile internet. According to monitoring site Datareportal, about 110 million Pakistanis were online this January, which is 24 million more than at the beginning of 2023.
Technology used in Imran’s campaign also
Let us tell you that deepfake was at the center of digital debate in this year’s elections. When former Prime Minister Imran Khan was jailed, his team prepared a speech in his voice on social media, which was done using AI tools. With this, he was able to campaign from behind bars.
Techniques being used to humiliate women
Men in politics are usually criticized for corruption, their ideology and position. But, deepfakes also have a dark side which is being used as a weapon to humiliate women.
US-based AI expert Henry Agder says that when women are accused, it almost always revolves around their sex life, their personal life, including whether they are good mothers or whether they are good wives. “
The status of women in politics is related to respect
He told AFP that deepfakes are a very harmful weapon for such work. The risks are very high in patriarchal Pakistan. The status of women in politics is generally linked to their “respect”. Every year, hundreds of women are murdered, often by their own family members, on alleged charges of defamation. Bukhari has described the video targeting him as “obscene”.
But in a country where premarital sex and cohabitation are punishable offences, anyone’s reputation can be damaged by spreading rumors with deepfake videos depicting hugs or inappropriate social interactions with men.
Deepfake video of MLA Meena Majeed also came
In October, AFP revealed the truth behind a deepfake video of regional MLA Meena Majeed. In this video she was hugging the male Chief Minister of Balochistan province. One social media caption said: “Shamelessness knows no limits. This is an insult to Baloch culture.”
Bukhari says that photographs of her husband and son have also been doctored to make it appear that she had appeared in public with her boyfriend outside her marriage.
In 2016, a law “to prevent online crimes” was passed by Buhari’s party. It contained “cyberstalking” provisions against sharing photos or videos without consent “in a manner that causes harm to a person”.
Need to strengthen cyber unit
Bukhari believes that there is a need to strengthen this and a sympathetic attitude of the investigators. “Capacity building in our cyber crime unit is very, very important,” he said.
Authorities had earlier blocked YouTube and TikTok. Additionally, X (formerly Twitter) has been banned since February when allegations of vote tampering spread on the site following the February elections.
Nighat Dad, a Pakistan-based digital rights activist, said that blocking sites was merely “a quick fix for the government”. “This is a violation of other fundamental rights, which are related to your freedom of expression and access to information,” he told AFP.
