Rashmika Mandanna’s Deepfake Reminds Us How Technology Is Used Against Women To Disarm Them Further

Recently, a deepkafe video of Rashmika Mandanna went viral on social media. The actor’s face was morphed on to the face of another woman. It looked genuine and it has got people talking about how scary deepfakes can get for a woman. Rashmika took to her social media platforms and issued a statement.

In a strongly worded statement, the actor said, “Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused.” She also added, “Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can’t imagine how could I ever tackle this.”

This has sparked a conversation on how badly we need legal frameworks in place to deal with situations like this.

Many celebs took to their social media platforms to talk about it. Here’s what they said.

But apart from the legal aspects, this situation has made me realize how this is a scary time for any woman to be alive. Rashmika Mandanna is a popular celebrity with more resources and privileges than any common girl in the country. It is because of the virtue of her being popular that she was even made aware that such a video exists. For others, this might not be the case and that deepfake video would continue to exist on the internet without the woman even knowing about its existence.

Situations like these make me realize how difficult and scary it is to be a woman. AI can be used for a multitude of things that can solve real-life problems, rather than creating newer ones. This technology could have been used for better things. But here we have a bunch of men who decide to use this to attack women. Women have to fight every day for the most basic of things and this just adds to the injustice that women face every single day.

It’s concerning (and needs to be studied) why men always feel the need to attack women. This is clearly a power move which is aimed to put women “in their place”. It is a message that no matter what you do, a man has the power to misuse your picture. Thanks to this technology, that is available at their fingertips. They can choose to do anything with this, yet they choose to attack women because they know that they can get away with it.

As a woman, it makes me uncomfortable sharing my pictures or videos on social media because I don’t know which man will take it upon himself to put me back in my place. It is scary how just one picture, a few clicks, and malicious intent can create something like this.