‘I should be able to share a pic without strangers misusing it’

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Who among us hasn't uploaded a photo or five in traditional wear on social media? Bhumika Maheshwari, a homeopathic doctor, had posted one of herself in a blue silk saree on X, with a caption paying tribute to her mother. Days later, it was reposted close to a dozen times by strangers in a compilation of photos of other women, crassly captioned "Diwali patakas".

Maheshwari is among scores of women who found their Diwali photos reposted without consent and objectified in such threads on X. "I felt so violated," says the health content creator, "I know I posted the photo on a public platform, but everyone does that on Diwali. And as a content creator, I should be able to share a photo with my followers without the threat of strangers misusing it."

When Maheshwari and the other women requested that their photos be taken down from the threads, citing a breach of privacy, the perpetrators doubled down and said there was nothing illegal about this - they were merely sharing a photo posted on a public platform.

Art influencer Rannaika Chaudhuri's photos were misused by an impersonator

"The entire thread was so creepy," says the Delhi resident. "There were only women's photos; none of us gave our consent, and I certainly don't want anyone to call me a pataka. It would not be polite for a stranger on the road to stop a woman and call her a pataka, so why should this be acceptable. Many women took down their photos so they couldn't be misused."

The threads caused a furore, and X pulled down the profiles of some of the perpetrators. Many, though, are still up.

There have been several instances of such violations in the past. Last year, a techie from Andhra Pradesh lifted a video from British-Indian influencer Zara Patel and morphed actor Rashmika Mandanna's face on it from social media images, creating a deepfake video that led to an uproar in the nation. The episode led to the government issuing a directive to social media companies to take down deepfakes within 36 hours of a complaint. Similar incidents have led to the instatement of other precautions, such as the option to lock social media profiles, so only those on the user's friends can see their photos and videos.

Bhumika Maheshwari

This is hardly the first time that photos posted on social media have been misused, whether by perverts or crooks.

Just a few days ago, Mumbai-based content creator Swati Mukund took to social media to flag that her photo had been uploaded on a fake profile on a matrimonial website's premium service.

In 2022, Rannaika Chaudhuri, a Bandra-based art influencer with over 56,000 followers, stumbled upon an imposter using her photos to populate a fake Instagram account. "This account somehow reached around 5,000 followers," she says, clearly disturbed. Absurdly, a few days later, her own account was blocked for impersonation. "Every time I tried to log in, I got a notification stating that Instagram had banned my account because I was allegedly trying to impersonate the other account," she sighs.

Ritesh Bhatia, cybercrime expert

Chaudhuri turned to Instagram's help centre, but it was a gruelling two weeks before she regained access. "At that point, my followers had drained to 35,000. I am an artist, and Instagram is how I connect with brands. I had worked so hard, and I was on the verge of losing everything," she recalls.

It's not just women who are vulnerable. Avinash Shahri, an entrepreneur specialising in recruitment and based out of Santa Cruz, didn't use a profile picture on WhatsApp for close to six months after an unsettling encounter.

Shahri had posted an ad online to sell a sofa set. A man, claiming to be interested, requested to chat on WhatsApp. Soon Shahri realised he was a scamster, exchanged heated words and hung up. "Then, I started getting non-stop WhatsApp calls," he says, "The caller had copied my WhatsApp profile picture, which was a photo of my entire family."

"It was done to fluster me, and it worked. I kept thinking about all the ways the crook could misuse photos of my family members," he recalls.

Six months on, Shahri's profile picture is a headshot of himself so that clients know who they are speaking to. "I just wanted to forget the whole experience," he adds.

Most victims don't lodge a complaint because it's too much of a hassle and it can take weeks for the problem to be resolved," says Ritesh Bhatia, cybercrime investigator and data privacy expert. His proposed solution is that social media intermediaries act more swiftly on complaints.

"Even police officials express frustration with how long it can take to get a response from social media giants," he says.

"Another issue is the interpretation of what constitutes breach of community guidelines. For example, the ‘Diwali pataka' threads might not even be recognised as breach because the company might not realise the cultural connotation of ‘pataka'."

It's not like there is no recourse - victims can lodge complaints on the government's cybercrime portal, Bhatia says. The cybercrime investigator, too, gets a minimum of two such cases a day. "Cybercrimes have overtaken other crimes," he says. "We need cyber courts with assurance of swift justice. Policy-wise, it's high time the government treats privacy as a priority."

For those whose profession requires them to keep their social media profiles public, Bhatia recommends holding back from posting sensitive photos. As for WhatsApp, there's a simple hack: "The other person can only see your DP only once you save them as contact. If you are chatting with a stranger, only save their number once you have confirmed their identity and intentions."