Social media and instant messaging app Telegram has come under fire after a group of researchers from security firm Sensity uncovered a cabal of DeepFake bots on the platform. These bots are said to be creating fake nude photos of women using DeepFake technology. Women’s pictures are reportedly taken from their social media profiles, raising new questions about privacy in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).
The Bombay High Court has taken cognizance of the matter while hearing petitions against the alleged media trial surrounding the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The HC has asked the government to prepare a report on these bots.
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The researchers revealed that over 1,00,000 images of women were shared on the platform as of July 2020. However, this figure doesn’t take into account the pictures that were created but not circulated on Telegram.
The report also reveals that a majority of the women that were targeted by the DeepFake bots belong to India, though there are no precise details available on this front. It is believed that more than 1,04,000 women may have been targeted globally on social media sites/apps to create these DeepFake images.
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Telegram is also known to have caused headaches for streaming platforms as evidenced this week. Mirzapur, a massively popular series which debuted its 2nd season on Amazon Prime Video this week was instantly trending on Twitter as many awaited its unofficial and illegal release on Telegram.
Taking these factors into account, it’s clear that authorities face a wide range of challenges when it comes to keeping a check on social media apps such as Telegram. It’s worth noting that Telegram was one of the first instant messaging apps to offer end-to-end encryption, way before even WhatsApp introduced the feature. This meant that a large section of illegal activities moved to Telegram at a very early stage.
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