A video purporting to show Kajol Devgan was caught on camera changing into an outfit, is a deepfake created misusing the actor's face.
BOOM found the original video is of a social media influencer and that the viral deepfake has morphed Kajol's face into the video.
Deepfakes which include fabricated images, videos and audio are increasingly being abused to create pornography and misinformation and pose a significant challenge to civil society.
BOOM's sister website Decode recently wrote about an X account (@crazyashfans) who posted numerous deepfake pornographic videos of Bollywood actresses such as Kiara Advani, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Kajol, and others engaging in explicit sexual acts. The deepfakes were made by morphing the faces of the actors on to pornographic videos.
Following the outcry over a deepfake of actor Rashmika Mandanna, the Indian government issued an advisory to major social media platforms, urging them to take prompt action against deepfakes and remove content that propagates misinformation. The directive aligns with the provisions outlined in the IT Rules 2021.
The morphed video is being circulated on major social media platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube, and had thousands of views as of the time of writing this fact-check.
Fact Check
BOOM has chosen to keep the identity of the woman in the original video confidential as the deepfake involves non-consensual imagery.
In the morphed video, for a brief second you can see the original woman's face in the video.
We took a screenshot of that part of the video and found the original video on Tik Tok which clearly shows that it is not the actress Kajol in it.
The original was uploaded on June 5, 2023. We also noticed that the influencer posted several such videos as part of the "Get Ready With Me" (GRWM) trend on the platform.
According to Vogue, the "Get Ready With Me" or "GRWM" videos are part of a trend on TikTok, wherein content creators share videos of their preparation routines as a way to maintain a close connection with their followers.
BOOM also reached out to the social media influencer for a comment. The influencer confirmed that she can be seen in the original video.