India’s Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Piyush Goyal, took formal legal action after a deepfake video distorted his recent media interaction to spread misinformation online. The manipulated footage, created using artificial intelligence, falsely suggested he made threatening comments about students protesting the NEET examination paper leak. In response, Goyal lodged a police complaint with Chanakyapuri Police Station, which officially registered a First Information Report (FIR).
The deepfake video emerged amid nationwide student demonstrations related to the leak of the NEET exam paper. The altered content used clips from Goyal’s media briefing outside Parliament, where he had defended the government’s position on the issue. He explained he was unable to address the matter on the parliamentary floor due to disruptions by the Opposition, which he accused of disrespecting House proceedings and preventing debate.
Goyal condemned the malicious use of AI technology to fabricate and spread false narratives, emphasizing that such actions would face strict legal consequences. He urged the public to seek information only from official and credible sources, expressing confidence that India’s tech-aware citizens, especially the youth, would not fall victim to such deceptive misinformation.