Meta has removed several Instagram and Facebook accounts and content related to the Jantar Mantar protest that Alt News had flagged as AI-manipulated visuals.
On September 2, a Meta spokesperson confirmed to Alt News that following a review, all the accounts and content were found to be violative of the platform’s policies and had been removed.
These posts included several AI-generated and AI-manipulated photographs and videos of women protesting at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar during the Cockroach Janta Party-led students’ protest in July. Alt News flagged Instagram and Facebook accounts and posts to Meta, in which real visuals women had been altered using AI, purportedly in an attempt to outrage their modesty.
In these posts, women’s clothes, bodies and poses had been altered in such a way that they looked starkly different from the original videos or photographs. Alt News’ investigation found that many such visuals were either entirely AI-generated or altered using AI. In some cases, techniques such as face swaps or body swaps were used.
Targeting Women CJP Protesters
Women protesters who participated in the CJP protests in Delhi were particularly targeted on social media. For several days, women faced online harassment and trolling, doxxing, rape threats and the public disclosure of personal information. These AI-visuals formed part of this larger pattern of attacks against female protesters.
These fake visuals were shared on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, among other platforms, claiming that they were real footage from the Jantar Mantar protest. Users then mistook the AI characters for real women partaking in the protests which was followed by objectionable and misogynistic comments targeting their identities, physical appearance, clothes and character. A few of those comments are displayed below:
Alt News identified several Instagram accounts which circulated such malicious content, including @kauronfire, @sirfseerat, @tia_kaurr, @hey.siya_2.0, @kavya_homevibes, @annika0022, @divyankaha and @its_anushkaa69.
Right-wing Users Share AI Image
During the protest, several right-wing users, including RSS supporters Acharya Ankur Arya and Vikram Pratap Singh, shared an AI-generated image claiming that it was a real photograph from the Jantar Mantar protest.
The purported image showed a young woman wearing a crop top and jeans. Users who shared the post made objectionable comments about the woman’s clothing and character. Alt News fact-checked this viral image and found that it was entirely AI-generated.
However, in some cases that surfaced on social media during the final days of the protest, besides entirely AI-generated images, real photographs of women were being altered, making it difficult to determine its authencity.
Visuals Of A Woman In White Saree
An user, @divyankaha, shared a photo and video on their Instagram account and YouTube channel respectively. These showed a woman wearing a white saree and navy blue blouse, linking her to the Jantar Mantar protest. (Archive link-1, Archive link-2)
Alt News found the original video of the post uploaded on an Instagram page @khoji_reporter24news.
Comparing the viral clip with the original video, we found that the body and clothing of the woman were entirely different, thus confirming that the image had been altered using AI. The background and original footage of the viral video remained the same, but the appearance of the woman had been completely manipulated. After Alt News flagged this to Meta, they removed @divyankaha‘s account.
We found several such posts and videos on @divyankaha‘s page. In another post, a woman wearing a white saree is seen sitting on the road wit posters infront of her. Alt News found this photo was also an AI-deepfake. (Archive link)
Several different versions of the viral post, with a woman in a white saree, were also found circulating widely on social media. All of these were AI-deepfakes.
Visuals Of A Woman Standing With A Poster
Another photograph went viral showing different women near the stage at the Jantar Mantar protest, holding posters that read “Resign De De Bhai PUNE SE Aai hu..and Hum jeet gaye”.
In the different iterations of this photo being shared, the woman as well as the design of the poster kept changing. These photos were shared by right-wing handles and those opposing the CJP protest, with objectionable comments and captions. (Archive Link-1, Link-2, Link-3, Link-4)
We found that this photo had been altered using AI. The original photoe was posted on July 22 by an Instagram account named @nanddhini.
A comparison of the original and viral photos clearly showed the difference in the woman’s face and body. The design of the poster also appears to have changed across different viral versions. Thus, the face and body of the woman in the original photo were swapped using an AI editing tool.
Similarly, several AI-generated and manipulated photos and videos were shared on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of @sirfseerat. These posts either altered real visuals related to the Jantar Mantar protest or created entirely new AI visuals. Some of these posts, displayed below, were later deleted.
Woman Speaking To Journalist
An Instagram AI-digital creator page named @kauronfire shared a video on July 23 in which a journalist can be seen interviewing a woman participating in the protest. (Archive)
We found the original video posted on journalist Muskan Bhagat’s Instagram account. (Archive)
View this post on Instagram
A comparison of the two videos revealed that the appearance, clothes and body of the woman in the viral video had been manipulated using AI. The woman shown participating in the protest in the original video was Chetna Dahiya. After Alt News informed Meta, action was taken against the @kauronfire account.
Woman Raising Slogans
@kauronfire shared another video showing a woman protester wearing a yellow crop top and shorts, raising slogans during the protest. (Archive)
We found the original video on the Instagram account of Manjeet Kumar, in which a Delhi SFI student named ‘Sahar’ can be seen raising slogans. (Archive)
View this post on Instagram
A comparison of the original and viral videos clearly showed the difference, wherein the student’s face, body and clothes were all altered using AI.
Woman Wearing A Purple Salwar
The same account @kauronfire shared yet another video in which a woman wearing a purple salwar suit can be seen distributing water bottles among people at the protest. (Archive)
We found that the original video was uploaded on an Instagram account named Tanya Dhaman. A comparison of the viral and original videos showed that the real woman’s appearance had been altered with the help of AI. (Archive)
View this post on Instagram
The differences between the women in the viral and original videos can be clearly seen below:
Another video showed a woman wearing a purple salwar suit distributing water bottles among people at Gate No. 2 of Delhi Janpat Metro. (Archive)
We found the original video on an Instagram account named Sapna, a content creator. In the original video, Sapna herself can be seen distributing water bottles to people. Here too, the original video was altered with the help of an AI tool, changing the woman’s appearance and body entirely. (Archive)
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The difference between the viral video and the original video can be seen below:
In another post, the AI-generated woman wearing a purple salwar suit can be seen collecting garbage and cleaning the Jantar Mantar protest area. (Archive)
We found the original video of this on the Instagram account of Mahira Agni. A comparison revealed that an AI character had been substituted for Mahira Agni herself in the viral video. (Archive)
View this post on Instagram
AI Compilation Video
In another post, a video was created by combining several different clips, and shared linking it to the Jantar Mantar protest. (Archive)
The original videos are three different clips of Mahira Agni (Video 1, Video 2, Video 3). Another clip was taken from a video by journalist Dilnawaz Pasha, in which two women and a man were cleaning the footpath at Jantar Mantar. The differences between the original footage and the body-swap visuals created with using AI can be seen below: (Archive link-1, Link-2, Link-3, Link-4)
Indore Video Falsely Circulated
In another video, a woman wearing red and black gym clothes was shared with the claim that she was distributing sharbat (juice) to people at the Jantar Mantar protest site. (Archive)
We found the original video on the Instagram account of content creator Himani Chawla, who can be seen wearing a blue suit in the video. This video is actually from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, where Chawla and her companions were serving sharbat to passersby. Thus, the video had absolutely no connection with the Jantar Mantar protest. The misleading viral clip was altered using AI and circulated on social media. (Archive)
View this post on Instagram
The difference between the viral and original videos can be seen below:
@kauronfire, @sirfseerat, @tia_kaurr, @hey.siya_2.0, @kavya_homevibes, @annika0022, @divyankaha and @its_anushkaa69 are some of the Instagram accounts that created and shared AI content featuring women who participated in the Jantar Mantar protest. These accounts misused AI, not only as a means to spread misinformation, but also to depict women in an objectionable manner, exposing them to online, and even real life harassment and abuse — all of which amount to punishable offences under the IT Act and the IT Rules of India.
On August 25, after receiving confirmation from Meta regarding the action taken, Alt News rechecked those accounts and posts, and some accounts and posts appeared to be available. We sought clarification from Meta and asked whether these accounts or content had been made available again after being removed earlier and, if so, what the reason behind this was.
On September 2, Meta responded and confirmed that all the accounts and content shared by Alt News had now been removed from the platform. However, Meta did not respond to the questions regarding the accounts and content that had reappeared. The article will be updated if Meta responds.
