#FactCheck -AI-Manipulated Video Falsely Claims ₹50 Crore Deal Involving Bhupen Bora
Executive Summary
A purported news clip circulating on social media claims that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) purchased Bhupen Bora, a leader of the Indian National Congress, for ₹50 crore as part of a political deal in Assam. The viral clip further alleges that the transaction took place under the leadership of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and included an agreement to induct several Congress leaders into the BJP.
However, research by CyberPeace found the viral claim to be false and revealed that the original news video had been manipulated using AI and shared with misleading claims.
Claim
On February 18, 2026, a user shared the viral video on Facebook, claiming that the Assam BJP had bought a Congress leader who had lost the last three elections for ₹50 crore, and that the alleged deal led by Himanta Biswa Sarma had drawn public criticism.
Fact Check:
To verify the authenticity of the claim, we extracted key frames from the viral video and conducted a reverse image search using Google Lens. During the research, we found the original version of the video published on the website of Aaj Tak on February 16, 2026. In the original report, the anchor is only seen reporting on Bhupen Bora’s resignation from the party. The report does not mention any alleged financial transaction or political deal, contrary to the claims made in the viral clip.
In the next stage of the research, the viral video was analysed using the AI detection tool AURGIN AI, which identified the video as AI-generated.
Conclusion
Our research found that users had manipulated the original news broadcast using AI and shared it with misleading claims. The viral clip does not show any real financial deal between Bhupen Bora and the Assam Chief Minister.
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Executive Summary
A video showing a modern highway flyover illuminated at night is being widely shared on social media. The bridge features bright white light poles and illuminated barriers. The video is being falsely claimed to be from Patna, Bihar. A CyberPeace Research Wing research has found the claim to be false. Our verification shows that the viral video is not real but AI-generated and is being circulated with misleading claims.
Claim:
A user on YouTube shared the viral video, claiming it shows a flyover in Patna. The post, along with its archive link and screenshots, can be seen below:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/j9jU-QVKcrw
Meanwhile, the BJP also shared the same video on its official Facebook page, writing: “Don’t be surprised, this is Patna, the capital of Bihar! Where there is BJP-NDA government, development moves at a fast pace.” The post link, archive link, and screenshots are available below:
https://www.facebook.com/bjp4bihar
Fact Check
A careful review of the viral video raised suspicions that it may be AI-generated. The footage was analysed using the AI detection tool HIVE MODERATION, which indicated that the video is approximately 84% likely to be AI-generated.
We also analysed the video using another AI detection tool, SIGHTENGINE, which produced an even stronger result, indicating a 99% likelihood of AI generation.
Conclusion:
The viral video being circulated as a flyover from Patna is not real. It is AI-generated and is being shared with misleading claims.
The global race for Artificial Intelligence is heating up, and India has become one of its most important battlegrounds. Over the past few months, tech giants like OpenAI (ChatGPT), Google (Gemini), X (Grok), Meta (Llama), and Perplexity AI have stepped up their presence in the country, not by selling their AI tools, but by offering them free or at deep discounts.
At first, it feels like a huge win for India’s digital generation. Students, professionals, and entrepreneurs today can tap into some of the world’s most powerful AI tools without paying a rupee. It feels like a digital revolution unfolding in real time. Yet, beneath this generosity lies a more complicated truth. Experts caution that this wave of “free” AI access isn’t without strings attached. This offering impacts how India handles data privacy, the fairness of competition, and the pace of the development of homegrown AI innovation that the country is focusing on.
The Market Strategy: Free Now, Pay Later
The choice of global AI companies to offer free access in India is a calculated business strategy. With one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing digital populations, India is a market no tech giant wants to miss. By giving away their AI tools for free, these firms are playing a long game:
- Securing market share early: Flooding the market with free access helps them quickly attract millions of users before Indian startups have a chance to catch up. Recent examples are Perplexity, ChatGPT Go and Gemini AI which are offering free subscriptions to Indian users.
- Gathering local data: Every interaction, every prompt, question, or language pattern, helps these models learn from larger datasets to improve their product offerings in India and the rest of the world. Nothing is free in the world - as the popular saying goes, “if something is free, means you are the product. The same goes for these AI platforms: they monetise user data by analysing chats and their behaviour to refine their model and build paid products. This creates the privacy risk as India currently lacks specific laws to govern how such data is stored, processed or used for AI training.
- Create user dependency: Once users grow accustomed to the quality and convenience of these global models, shifting to Indian alternatives, even when they become paid, will be difficult. This approach mirrors the “freemium” model used in other tech sectors, where users are first attracted through free access and later monetised through subscriptions or premium features, raising ethical concerns.
Impact on Indian Users
For most Indians, the short-term impact of free AI access feels overwhelmingly positive. Tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are breaking down barriers by democratising knowledge and making advanced technology available to everyone, from students, professionals, to small businesses. It’s changing how people learn, think and do - all without spending a single rupee.But the long-term picture isn’t quite as simple. Beneath the convenience lies a set of growing concerns:
- Data privacy risks: Many users don’t realise that their chats, prompts, or queries might be stored and used to train global AI models. Without strong data protection laws in action, sensitive Indian data could easily find its way into foreign systems.
- Overdependence on foreign technology: Once these AI tools become part of people’s daily lives, moving away from them gets harder — especially if free access later turns into paid plans or comes with restrictive conditions.
- Language and cultural bias: Most large AI models are still built mainly around English and Western data. Without enough Indian language content and cultural representation, the technology risks overlooking the very diversity that defines India
Impact on India’s AI Ecosystem
India’s Generative AI market, valued at USD $ 1.30 billion in 2024, is projected to reach 5.40 billion by 2033. Yet, this growth story may become uneven if global players dominate early.
Domestic AI startups face multiple hurdles — limited funding, high compute costs, and difficulty in accessing large, diverse datasets. The arrival of free, GPT-4-level models sharpens these challenges by raising user expectations and increasing customer acquisition costs.
As AI analyst Kashyap Kompella notes, “If users can access GPT-4-level quality at zero cost, their incentive to try local models that still need refinement will be low.” This could stifle innovation at home, resulting in a shallow domestic AI ecosystem where India consumes global technology but contributes little to its creation.
CCI’s Intervention: Guarding Fair Competition
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has started taking note of how global AI companies are shaping India’s digital market. In a recent report, it cautioned that AI-driven pricing strategies such as offering free or heavily subsidised access could distort healthy competition and create an uneven playing field for smaller Indian developers.
The CCI’s decision to step in is both timely and necessary. Without proper oversight, such tactics could gradually push homegrown AI startups to the sidelines and allow a few foreign tech giants to gain disproportionate influence over India’s emerging AI economy.
What the Indian Government Should Do
To ensure India’s AI landscape remains competitive, inclusive, and innovation-driven, the government must adopt a balanced strategy that safeguards users while empowering local developers.
1. Promote Fair Competition
The government should mandate transparency in free access offers, including their duration, renewal terms, and data-use policies. Exclusivity deals between foreign AI firms and telecom or device companies must be closely monitored to prevent monopolistic practices.
2. Strengthen Data Protection
Under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, companies should be required to obtain explicit consent from users before using data for model training. Encourage data localisation, ensuring that sensitive Indian data remains stored within India’s borders.
3. Support Domestic AI Innovation
Accelerate the implementation of the IndiaAI Mission to provide public compute infrastructure, open datasets, and research funding to local AI developers like Sarvam AI, an Indian company chosen by the government to build the country's first homegrown large language model (LLM) under IndianAI Mission.
4. Create an Open AI Ecosystem
India should develop national AI benchmarks to evaluate all models, foreign or domestic, on performance, fairness, and linguistic diversity. And at the same time, they have their own national data Centre to train their indigenous AI models.
5. Encourage Responsible Global Collaboration
Speaking at the AI Action Summit 2025, the Prime Minister highlighted that governance should go beyond managing risks and should also promote innovation for the global good. Building on this idea, India should encourage global AI companies to invest meaningfully in the country’s ecosystem through research labs, data centres, and AI education programmes. Such collaborations will ensure that these partnerships not only expand markets but also create value, jobs and knowledge within India.
Conclusion
The surge of free AI access across India represents a defining moment in the nation’s digital journey. On one hand, it’s empowering millions of people and accelerating AI awareness like never before. On the other hand, it poses serious challenges from over-reliance on foreign platforms to potential risks around data privacy and the slow growth of local innovation. India’s real test will be finding the right balance between access and autonomy, allowing global AI leaders to innovate and operate here, but within a framework that protects the interests of Indian users, startups, and data ecosystems. With strong and timely action under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, the IndiaAI Mission, and the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) active oversight, India can make sure this AI revolution isn’t just something that happens to the country, but for it.
References
- https://www.moneycontrol.com/artificial-intelligence/cci-study-flags-steep-barriers-for-indian-ai-startups-calls-for-open-data-and-compute-access-to-level-playing-field-article-13600606.html#
- https://www.imarcgroup.com/india-generative-ai-market
- https://www.mea.gov.in/Speeches-Statements.htm?dtl/39020/Opening_Address_by_Prime_Minister_Shri_Narendra_Modi_at_the_AI_Action_Summit_Paris_February_11_2025
- https://m.economictimes.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/nasscom-planning-local-benchmarks-for-indic-ai-models/articleshow/124218208.cms
- https://indianexpress.com/article/business/centre-selects-start-up-sarvam-to-build-country-first-homegrown-ai-model-9967243/#
Introduction
Meta has announced that E2EE in Instagram direct messages is ending entirely. Every day, billions of people send messages they consider private. A medical update to a family member. A photograph meant for one person. A conversation they would never have in public. For years, end-to-end encryption (E2EE) was the technology that made that privacy possible: the digital equivalent of a sealed envelope that only the sender and receiver could open. After May 8, 2026, this will change.
Understanding the Adoption Gap
Meta pointed to low user adoption as the reason for this change. Few people were using encrypted messaging on Instagram, the company said, so the feature was not worth keeping. That explanation raises some questions. Encryption was never switched on by default. Users had to find it and turn it on themselves. It was not advertised. And it was only available in certain regions to begin with, something Meta noted on its own Help Centre page. Features that require users to actively seek them out tend to get used far less than those that simply work from the start. WhatsApp demonstrates this clearly; encryption has been on by default since 2016, for every user, with no action required. Back in 2019, Mark Zuckerberg spoke publicly about building privacy into Meta’s messaging platforms as a core direction for the company. The current decision shows a different vision for the company.
The Commercial Dimension
Encrypted message content is not accessible for advertising purposes by design. In December 2025, Meta updated its privacy policy to allow interactions with its Meta AI assistant to inform personalized advertising recommendations across its platforms. With encryption removed from Instagram direct messages, the content of those conversations enters a data environment that already serves Meta’s advertising systems. Meta has not made a direct public statement connecting these two decisions, but technology analysts and privacy researchers have noted the commercial implications of making previously inaccessible message content available within that ecosystem.
What This Means for Users
From May 8, 2026, the content of Instagram direct messages will be accessible to Meta’s systems. This includes messages relating to personal matters that users may have previously sent under the assumption of encryption. A related concern is the question of data security. Unencrypted message content stored on platform servers creates a larger surface area of sensitive information that could be exposed in the event of a security breach. As platforms collect and retain greater volumes of personal data, the potential consequences of unauthorised access grow correspondingly.
But, there is an argument on the other side. Law enforcement agencies and child safety organisations have long maintained that end-to-end encryption limits their ability to detect and act on harmful content. Removing encryption does make certain forms of platform-level content moderation technically feasible where they were not before.
India’s Supreme Court: The Warning Nobody Heeded
India’s Supreme Court said it plainly when hearing the case against Meta’s 2021 WhatsApp privacy policy, which forced hundreds of millions of users to accept data sharing with Facebook or lose access entirely. Chief Justice Surya Kant called it “a decent way of committing theft of private information” and asked how ordinary people could meaningfully consent to policies written in language they cannot understand. He made it human with one line: “A poor woman selling fruits on the streets — will she understand the terms of your policy?” The court ordered Meta not to share a single word of user data until the case is resolved. When Meta’s lawyers argued that encryption protects users anyway, the bench pushed back: encryption protects message content, not the metadata surrounding it. Who you talk to, how often, at what time, from where: all of it is still harvested. The Competition Commission’s own advocate summarised the entire arrangement in four words: “We are the products.”
WhatsApp: A Question Worth Asking
Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp are three products inside one ecosystem, owned by Meta, serving one business model. Instagram’s encryption is already gone. Is WhatsApp next in line ?
WhatsApp has over 850 million monthly active users in India alone. People do not use it for entertainment, it is how families talk, how businesses run, how essential daily communication happens. It is infrastructure, not an app. Meta acquired it in 2014 promising no ads, no data exploitation. By 2021 that promise was already bending. By 2025 ads appeared in the Status section. Both original co-founders had long since left the company over exactly these concerns. Instagram’s encryption survived until it conflicted with revenue and regulation. WhatsApp’s encryption exists today under the same ownership, the same business model, and the same tightening global regulatory pressure. That is not a reason to panic. It is a reason to pay attention.
Conclusion
Encryption is not permanent. It is a design choice, and like any design choice, it can be undone when priorities shift. After May 8, 2026, Instagram direct messages will no longer be protected the way they once were. For most users, this change will pass unnoticed. But the data those conversations contain will now be accessible in ways it previously was not. What platforms do with user data is rarely announced loudly. Paying attention to the quiet changes matters.
References
- https://help.instagram.com/491565145294150
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/18/instagram-to-remove-end-to-end-encryption-for-private-messages-in-may
- https://www.androidpolice.com/why-meta-is-getting-rid-of-e2ee/
- https://digitalpolicyalert.org/change/13307
- https://www.skadden.com/insights/publications/2025/06/take-it-down-act
- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/you-cant-play-with-right-of-privacy-of-citizens-scs-big-warning-to-whatsapp-meta-over-take-it-or-leave-it-policy/articleshow/127878524.cms#
- https://proton.me/blog/instagram-end-to-end-encryption
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2018/09/26/exclusive-whatsapp-cofounder-brian-acton-gives-the-inside-story-on-deletefacebook-and-why-he-left-850-million-behind/
