Deepfake rocks Sikkim politics: SDF accuses SKM of preparing deepfake voice notes, videos of Pawan Chamling

The deepfake menace that has been hitting the headlines is now threatening to rock the world of politics in Sikkim.

In a serious allegation, the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) has accused the ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) led by Chief Minister PS Tamang of preparing deepfake voice notes as well as videos with an intention to malign the stature of the former 5-time Chief Minister Pawan Chamling as well as his party’s growing popularity.

According to the SDF, deepfake contents have been prepared in such a way that may offend different communities in the Himalayan state. The SDF accused the SKM of being back to its old tricks of spreading false propaganda ahead of polls.

In a statement, the SDF said, “The SKM party is a party that exists on the foundation of propaganda and lies. The SKM party is well known for publishing “kirtey” pamphlets and in the last 2019 elections, the SKM party circulated many such pamphlets, fake documents and even a fake Nepali citizenship of Pawan Chamling. In the last 2019 elections, propaganda in the name of community and religion was used as a weapon against SDF by the SKM party. The SKM party went as far as to create a fake voice note of Gopal Gurung who had passed away 10 years prior to the voice note being circulated.”

Not only this, the SDF has accused of SKM shielding their failures in governance by preparing such deepfake contents against the SDF leadership ahead of the 2024 polls. The party said, “Now that the 2024 elections are near and because the SKM party has failed at all fronts of governance, they are relying on AI generated deepfake voice clips and videos to tarnish the image of Pawan Chamling and to dent the rapidly growing popularity of the SDF party.”

In the meantime, the SDF has asked the people of the Himalayan state not to get mislead by a deep-fake voice note of party chief Pawan Chamling which may be circulated on social media.

What is Deepfake?

Deepfakes are synthetic media that have been digitally manipulated to replace one person’s likeness convincingly with that of another. Deepfakes are the manipulation of facial appearance through deep generative methods.

Worth mentioning, recently a deepfake video went viral which showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi participating in a garba dance. This left the Prime Minister was left in utter disbelief after which he warned that ‘deepfakes’ can cause a big crisis and even stoke the fire of disaffection in a diverse society.
Besides, Bollywood actor Rashmika Mandana too had fallen prey to deepfake recently.
A deepfake video featuring actress Rashmika Mandanna went viral with over 2.4 million views. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan shared the video, highlighting the need for new legal and regulatory measures.