Rashmika Mandanna's rumoured beau Vijay Deverakonda reacts to her deepfake video: Shouldn't happen to anyone

Rashmika Mandanna and Vijay Deverakonda

Rashmika Mandanna's deepfake video brought to the limelight all the illegal activities taking place on social media. Several celebrities came out in support of the actress and raised an alarm. After Rashmika reacted to the deepfake video, her rumoured beau Vijay Deverakonda responded to the clip.

Sharing a news post on his Instagram stories, Vijay wrote, "Extremely important steps for the future. This shouldn't happen to anyone. Also, an efficient accessible cyber wing for quick crackdowns and punishment will make people more secure."

After Rashmika's deepfake video went viral, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued an advisory to social media platforms, highlighting the legal provisions that cover such fake videos and the penalties their creation and circulation may attract. The government has cited Section 66D of Information Technoloy Act, 2000. The section, which relates to 'punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resource', states, "Whoever, by means for any communication device or computer resource cheats by personating, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine which may extend to one lakh rupees."

Rashmika reacted to her deepfake video and wrote, "I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused. Today, as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well-wishers who are my protection and support system. But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can't imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft."

Amitabh Bachchan was the first celebrity to raise an alarm and extend support to his Goodbye co-star. The veteran star tweeted, "This is a strong case for legal."

Apart from Vijay, Mrunal Thakur, Naga Chaitanya and several other stars extended support to Rashmika.