Description: In February 2020, India's BJP used purported deepfake videos of party leader Manoj Tiwari to influence voters in the Delhi legislative election. The videos reportedly showed Tiwari delivering scripted campaign messages in Haryanvi and English, which are languages he did not speak, by altering his lip movements and voice. Distributed via thousands of WhatsApp groups, the deepfakes reportedly reached millions of voters without disclosure.
Editor Notes: This incident reportedly took place in February 2020. The incident ID was created 01/10/2026.
Entities
View all entitiesAlleged: Deepfake technology developers and Synthetic audio generation technology developers developed an AI system deployed by The Ideaz Factory , Information manipulation actors , BJP Delhi IT Cell and Information manipulation actors in India, which harmed Manoj Tiwari , General public of India , General public , Epistemic integrity and Democratic integrity.
Alleged implicated AI systems: WhatsApp , Deepfake technology , Social media platforms and Synthetic audio generation technology
Incident Stats
Risk Subdomain
A further 23 subdomains create an accessible and understandable classification of hazards and harms associated with AI
4.1. Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
Risk Domain
The Domain Taxonomy of AI Risks classifies risks into seven AI risk domains: (1) Discrimination & toxicity, (2) Privacy & security, (3) Misinformation, (4) Malicious actors & misuse, (5) Human-computer interaction, (6) Socioeconomic & environmental harms, and (7) AI system safety, failures & limitations.
- Malicious Actors & Misuse
Entity
Which, if any, entity is presented as the main cause of the risk
Human
Timing
The stage in the AI lifecycle at which the risk is presented as occurring
Post-deployment
Intent
Whether the risk is presented as occurring as an expected or unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Intentional
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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On February 7, a day ahead of the Legislative Assembly elections in Delhi, two videos of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Manoj Tiwari criticising the incumbent Delhi government of Arvind Kejriwal went viral on WhatsApp. While one…
Variants
A "variant" is an AI incident similar to a known case—it has the same causes, harms, and AI system. Instead of listing it separately, we group it under the first reported incident. Unlike other incidents, variants do not need to have been reported outside the AIID. Learn more from the research paper.
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