Instagram has a Bollywood deepfake problem

File photo of Deepika Padukone, pictured on the right, and Ranveer Singh on the left, who recently became parents. Photo Credit: AP

In a heart-touching picture on Instagram, Indian actress Deepika Padukone is seen with her newborn daughter, smiling lovingly at the baby. In other such pictures, father Ranveer Singh is seen hugging the child or happily embracing Padukone.

Although these pictures have received hundreds or even thousands of likes for various accounts, they are completely missing from the official Instagram handles of both Padukone and Singh, as the pictures are deepfakes.

Unlabeled deepfake photos of Bollywood celebrities are common on Instagram Photo Credit: Images taken from Instagram and compiled on Canva

The two Bollywood actors, who recently became parents, have been cautious about protecting the privacy of their newborn daughter and have yet to post family photos revealing the baby’s face in public.

It is unclear whether these deepfakes of Padukone and her child were created with an AI text-to-image generator or other photo manipulation tools. But due to his hyper-realistic nature, he has fooled many users on Instagram. Deepfakes are also completely unmarked, even though Instagram urges users to self-identify AI-generated content on its platform.

“Labeling your AI-generated or AI-modified content on Instagram helps establish transparency and trust. In some cases, this is necessary,” Instagram said in its Help Center.

“Content can be automatically labeled when it contains AI signals, or you can label content as AI-generated or AI-modified when you share it on Instagram,” the company added. But doctored images of Padukone, Singh, their children and other actors have already gone viral without being called synthetic or misleading.

In another example, an Instagram photo showed actress Rashmika Mandanna with co-actor Vijay Deverakonda, both dressed in stunning outfits and posing as if they were a couple. The somewhat crooked fingers and details on his hands suggest that the image was generated with AI.

Mandanna has already spoken about being targeted by deepfakes and how cybercrime has deeply affected her.

Meanwhile, several doctored images of Padukone, Singh and their child posted by various accounts appeared as top results in Instagram’s algorithmic grid-based feed when someone looked up Deepika Padukone by name.

Adding to this concern, Instagram’s policy on creators labeling their AI-generated images is confusing in some places, and this can lead to delays in identifying deepfakes.

“Meta does not require you to label images that were created or altered with AI. “If Meta’s systems detect that they are AI-generated, the images will still receive a label,” the company said in its help center.