Narayana Murthy warns about deepfake video of him endorsing trading apps

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he said some web pages claimed that he invested in automated trading applications. Through multiple tweets, the Infosys founder denied any involvement in such activity

Narayana Murthy, Founder, Infosys. | Photo Credit: PTI

Infosys founder Narayana Murthy on Thursday flagged that there are deepfake pictures and videos of him circulating on social media, cautioning users “to not fall prey” to such information and to report such instances to the concerned authorities.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he said some web pages claimed that he invested in automated trading applications. Through multiple tweets, the Infosys founder denied any involvement in such activity.

“In recent months, there have been several fake news items propagated via social media apps and on various webpages available on internet claiming that I have endorsed or invested in automated trading applications named BTC AI Evex, British Bitcoin Profit, Bit Lyte Sync, Immediate Momentum, Capitalix Ventures etc. The news items appear on fraudulent websites that masquerade as popular newspaper websites and some of them even publish fake interviews using deepfake pictures and videos,” he said on the microblogging website.

He continued, “I categorically deny any endorsement, relation or association with these applications or websites. I caution the public to not fall prey to the content of these malicious sites and to the products or services they are trying to sell to you. Please report any such instances to the concerned regulatory authorities.”

He requested people not to fall prey to such information being circulated on the internet.

This comes after Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw had said the government would make rules around deepfakes, synthetic media that mimics authentic images, video and audio, and set out rules to prevent their dissemination online.

Earlier in November, a deepfake of actor Rashmika Mandanna went viral on Instagram and elsewhere. While advisories to social media firms have been sent warning them that the law already prevents impersonation online, the IT Ministry is saying that it will now move swiftly to address the issue more comprehensively.