Mumbai Police registers FIR against gaming site, FB page as Sachin Tendulkar raises deepfake concerns

Shortly after former Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar called out a gaming website for using his face and voice using deepfake technology to promote their own brand, an FIR (first information report) has been filed against the same website and its Facebook page.

The manipulated video featured the former cricketer talking about how he and his daughter have earned money by playing a certain online game. Despite the FIR, the owner of the gaming site and the Facebook page are yet to be identified.

The FIR was filed by Mumbai's West Region cyber police based on a complaint by Tendulkar's personal assistant, Ramesh Pardhe. The complaint mentioned that an old YouTube video featuring Tendulkar had been tampered with and used to promote the game “Skyward Aviator Quest”.

Seeing the deepfake clip, Tendulkar recently took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to point out the disturbing misuse of technology and inform his fans about the video being fake.

“These videos are fake. It is disturbing to see rampant misuse of technology. Request everyone to report videos, ads & apps like these in large numbers. Social Media platforms need to be alert and responsive to complaints. Swift action from their end is crucial to stopping the spread of misinformation and deepfakes,” Tendulkar tweeted recently.

See Sachin Tendulkar's deepfake video here:

The case has been filed under Section 500 of the IPC and Section 66 of the IT Act, which relate to defamation. It is also interesting to note that this is the second complaint that Pardhe has filed on Tendulkar’s behalf in recent months.

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Back in May 2023, a website had used the 50-year-old's face and name to sell herbal products. Furthermore, the Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw recently spoke up about how a notice had been sent to various social media companies as they were ordered to make an attempt in removing every piece of misinformation present on their websites.