#FactCheck-AI-Manipulated Video Falsely Claims PM Modi Promised Free Gold for Women
Executive Summary
A video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being widely shared on social media, in which he appears to say that every woman would receive 1 gram of gold free against one Aadhaar card. The clip is being circulated with misleading claims suggesting a government scheme. Research by CyberPeace Research Wing found that the audio of Prime Minister Modi’s 2019 video was manipulated using AI technology and shared with a misleading claim.
Claim
An Instagram user shared the viral video claiming that PM Modi announced free gold for women.
Fact Check
To verify the claim, we conducted a keyword search on Google but found no credible media reports or official announcements supporting such a scheme. We then extracted keyframes from the viral clip and performed a reverse image search. This led us to the original video uploaded by DD News on February 24, 2019. In the authentic footage, PM Modi was addressing a public rally in Gorakhpur. At no point did he mention distributing gold to women.
Further examination of the viral clip raised suspicions of audio manipulation. We analyzed the speech using AI detection tool Hive Moderation, which indicated a 99% probability that the speech was AI-generated.
Conclusion
Our research found that the viral claim is false. The video uses footage from PM Modi’s 2019 speech, while the original audio appears to have been replaced using AI-generated voice technology to spread a misleading claim about free gold distribution.
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Introduction
India’s data centre sector is rapidly emerging as strategic national infrastructure at the centre of the country’s AI ambitions, fuelled by a combination of technological advancements and the global political economy. Estimates suggest that national data centre capacity is expected to rise from 1.2 GW in 2025 to almost 8 GW by 2030. With a funding of ₹10,372 crore, the IndiaAI Mission aims to establish domestic compute power and expand GPU infrastructure throughout the nation. Simultaneously, the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 has introduced a form of “soft localisation,” empowering the government to mandate domestic storage for sensitive categories of data.
Together, this push for infrastructure aims to transform India from a passive data market into an active shaper of global data flows. Yet India’s current policy model differs significantly from the approaches being adopted in other major digital economies. A comparison with Singapore and the European Union reveals that while India is focused on aggressive data centre expansion, other jurisdictions are increasingly prioritising sustainability, efficiency, and digital sovereignty.
This raises a critical policy question: can India scale its AI infrastructure ambitions while accounting for the governance and resource challenges that other markets are now attempting to correct?
India’s Incentive-Led AI Infrastructure Push
India’s current approach to data centre expansion is fundamentally facilitative. The state is acting as an enabler of rapid private investment through fiscal incentives and infrastructure prioritisation.
The Union Budget 2022 had classified data centres as “infrastructure,” which enables developers to access cheaper institutional financing and long-term capital. The Union Budget 2026 further introduced tax holidays for foreign cloud providers using Indian facilities for global operations. At the state level, governments such as Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are aggressively competing to attract hyperscale investments through electricity duty exemptions, expedited approvals, and “essential service” status designed to guarantee uninterrupted operations.
This approach reflects India’s broader strategic positioning. As global demand for AI compute accelerates, India seeks to establish itself not only as a major digital market, but as a sovereign compute hub for the Global South.
The IndiaAI Mission demonstrates this ambition clearly. By seeking to scale domestic GPU capacity to 100,000 units, the government is recognising that compute infrastructure is increasingly becoming geopolitically strategic. AI leadership will now depend on the ability to control and secure the physical infrastructure powering advanced AI systems.
However, while India’s policy framework strongly incentivises capacity creation, it remains relatively underdeveloped in areas such as sustainability benchmarks, resource management, and operational accountability.
Singapore and the European Union: Governance After Scale
Singapore and the European Union offer models of digital infrastructure governance as rapid infrastructure growth starts to raise resource and sovereignty issues.
With the limited energy resources and land at its disposal, Singapore has shifted from unrestricted data centre growth to a tightly managed sustainability-first model. Through the Data Centre Call for Application (DC-CFA) framework, only projects meeting strict efficiency and economic value criteria are approved. For instance, new facilities are expected to maintain Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) levels of 1.3 or lower and submit detailed water efficiency plans to comply with advanced environmental standards. The country has also developed tropical cooling standards that allow facilities to run at higher ambient temperatures, reducing cooling energy consumption significantly. Rather than uninhibited growth, Singapore is now geared towards growth efficiency.
The European Union, on the other hand, is pursuing a sovereignty-oriented governance model in response to geopolitical pressures. However, it is still introducing energy reporting requirements and waste heat recovery rules into digital infrastructure rules through the revised Energy Efficiency Directive and proposed EU Cloud and AI Development Act. Simultaneously, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is being used to investigate hyperscale cloud providers for potential “gatekeeper” behaviour, reflecting concerns about excessive concentration of digital infrastructure power in the hands of a few non-European firms. This approach shows that sovereignty and energy efficiency can go hand-in-hand.
These models illustrate an important trend: digital infrastructure governance is shifting from the promotion of investment to sustainability, competition regulation and strategic autonomy.
India’s Emerging Governance Challenge
India’s current trajectory and global geopolitical tensions suggest that pressures regarding sustainability and sovereignty are set to intensify over the next decade.
AI infrastructure is resource-intensive by design. For example, a single modern AI server rack can consume up to 250 kilowatts (kW) of power, compared to a traditional enterprise server rack which typically requires only 15 kW. Despite the use of water use effectiveness (WUE) technologies, the sheer volume of heat transfer means that AI data centres can still put immense pressure on local water resources, especially in warmer climates. These figures juxtaposed against hyperscale clusters mean the volumes of electricity, cooling systems, land, water, and high-density compute rise by significant orders of magnitude. Yet most Indian policies remain overwhelmingly focused on fiscal incentives rather than long-term resource governance.
This creates the risk of a reactive policy cycle in which sustainability standards are introduced only after resource pressures become acute. Urban concentration, grid stress, water scarcity, and energy reliability may eventually force abrupt regulatory interventions which can lead to higher compliance costs and uncertainty in operations.
At the same time, India’s push for sovereign AI infrastructure also raises broader questions around digital sovereignty and institutional capacity. Procuring GPUs alone does not create an AI ecosystem. Secure hosting environments, skilled infrastructure personnel, cybersecurity preparedness, and interoperable governance mechanisms are equally essential.
This makes workforce development a strategic human resource development issue rather than simply an industrial challenge. Without sufficient thermal engineers, cybersecurity professionals, and digital infrastructure specialists, India’s infrastructure ambitions may struggle to translate into long-term resilience.
Building Governance into the Expansion Phase
India’s current “pre-regulatory” moment also presents a significant opportunity. Because the sector is still evolving, both policymakers and infrastructure actors have the ability to shape governance standards before constraints become restrictive.
It is vital to establishing national sustainability benchmarks through public-private technical partnerships, possibly under the aegis of of NITI Aayog, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and MeitY, before the next resource pressures dictate reactive regulation. Pilot “sustainability sandboxes” focused on liquid immersion cooling, renewable integration, battery energy storage systems, and water-efficient operations could help create evidence-based policy frameworks tailored to Indian conditions. Similarly, Likewise, collaborations with skilling institutions like NSDC and NIELIT can contribute to the development of dedicated digital infrastructure academies for thermal engineering, cybersecurity, and AI infrastructure management.
This would support India to progress towards a sovereign AI infrastructure stack, bringing together compute capacity, sustainability, capacity building and governance resilience into a seamless ecosystem.
Conclusion
With AI systems become increasingly utilised in finance, healthcare, governance, and public services, the infrastructure ecosystem supporting them will become equally politically and strategically significant. The choices India makes today to operationalise sustainability, skilling, competition, and sovereign compute capacity will shape the foundations of its future AI economy.
The central challenge is no longer whether India can become a major AI infrastructure hub. It is whether the country can transition from an incentive-led expansion model toward a governance framework that balances scale with sustainability, sovereignty, democratic accountability, and long-term resilience.
That transition may ultimately define the success of India’s AI century.
References
https://indiaai.gov.in/news/cabinet-approves-india-ai-mission-at-an-outlay-of-rs-10-372-crore
https://www.midcindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IT-ITES_Policy_2015.pdf
https://uplc.up.gov.in/en/page/uttar-pradesh-data-center-policy
A video circulating on social media claims to show former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar commenting on England batter Joe Root’s batting feats. In the clip, Tendulkar is allegedly heard saying that if Joe Root continues scoring centuries, even his (Tendulkar’s) record would be broken. The video further claims that Tendulkar says if Root scores another century, he would give up the bat’s grip, after which the clip abruptly ends.
Users sharing the video are claiming that Sachin Tendulkar has taken a dig at Joe Root through this remark.
Cyber Peace Foundation’s research found the claim to be misleading. Our research clearly establishes that the viral video is not authentic but has been created using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and is being shared online with a false narrative.
CLAIM
On January 5, 2025, several users shared the viral video on Instagram, claiming it shows Sachin Tendulkar making remarks about Joe Root’s century-scoring spree.
(Post link and archive link available.)
FACT CHECK
To verify the claim, we extracted keyframes from the viral video and conducted a Google Reverse Image Search. This led us to an interview of Sachin Tendulkar published on the official BBC News YouTube channel on November 18, 2013. The visuals from that interview match exactly with those seen in the viral clip.
This establishes that the visuals used in the viral video are old and have been repurposed with manipulated audio to create a misleading narrative.
Further, Joe Root made his Test debut in 2012. At that time, he had not scored multiple Test centuries and was nowhere close to Sachin Tendulkar’s record tally of hundreds. This timeline itself makes the viral claim factually incorrect.
(Link to the original BBC interview available.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Rz4pgR9UQ
Upon closely examining the viral clip, we noticed that Sachin Tendulkar’s voice sounded unnatural and inconsistent. This raised suspicion of audio manipulation.
We then ran the viral video through an AI detection tool, Aurigin AI. According to the results, the audio in the video was found to be 100 percent AI-generated, confirming that Tendulkar never made the statements attributed to him in the clip.
Conclusion
Our research confirms that the viral video claiming Sachin Tendulkar commented on Joe Root’s centuries is fake. The video has been created using AI-generated audio and misleadingly combined with visuals from a 2013 interview. Users are sharing this manipulated clip on social media with a false claim.
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The 2020s mark the emergence of deepfakes in general media discourse. The rise in deepfake technology is defined by a very simple yet concerning fact: it is now possible to create perfect imitations of anyone using AI tools that can create audio in any person's voice and generate realistic images and videos of almost anyone doing pretty much anything. The proliferation of deepfake content in the media poses great challenges to the functioning of democracies. especially as such materials can deprive the public of the accurate information it needs to make informed decisions in elections. Deepfakes are created using AI, which combines different technologies to produce synthetic content.
Understanding Deepfakes
Deepfakes are synthetically generated content created using artificial intelligence (AI). This technology works on an advanced algorithm that creates hyper-realistic videos by using a person’s face, voice or likeness utilising techniques such as machine learning. The utilisation and progression of deepfake technology holds vast potential, both benign and malicious.
An example is when the NGO Malaria No More which had used deepfake technology in 2019 to sync David Beckham’s lip movements with different voices in nine languages, amplified its anti-malaria message.
Deepfakes have a dark side too. They have been used to spread false information, manipulate public opinion, and damage reputations. They can harm mental health and have significant social impacts. The ease of creating deepfakes makes it difficult to verify media authenticity, eroding trust in journalism and creating confusion about what is true and what is not. Their potential to cause harm has made it necessary to consider legal and regulatory approaches.
India’s Legal Landscape Surrounding Deepfakes
India presently lacks a specific law dealing with deepfakes, but the existing legal provisions offer some safeguards against mischief caused.
- Deepfakes created with the intent of spreading misinformation or damaging someone’s reputation can be prosecuted under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita of 2023. It deals with the consequences of such acts under Section 356, governing defamation law.
- The Information Technology Act of 2000, the primary law that regulates Indian cyberspace. Any unauthorised disclosure of personal information which is used to create deepfakes for harassment or voyeurism is a violation of the act.
- The unauthorised use of a person's likeness in a deepfake can become a violation of their intellectual property rights and lead to copyright infringement.
- India’s privacy law, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, regulates and limits the misuse of personal data. It has the potential to address deepfakes by ensuring that individuals’ likenesses are not used without their consent in digital contexts.
India, at present, needs legislation that can specifically address the challenges deepfakes pose. The proposed legislation, aptly titled, ‘the Digital India Act’ aims to tackle various digital issues, including the misuse of deepfake technology and the spread of misinformation. Additionally, states like Maharashtra have proposed laws targeting deepfakes used for defamation or fraud, highlighting growing concerns about their impact on the digital landscape.
Policy Approaches to Regulation of Deepfakes
- Criminalising and penalising the making, creation and distribution of harmful deepfakes as illegal will act as a deterrent.
- There should be a process that mandates the disclosures for synthetic media. This would be to inform viewers that the content has been created using AI.
- Encouraging tech companies to implement stricter policies on deepfake content moderation can enhance accountability and reduce harmful misinformation.
- The public’s understanding of deepfakes should be promoted. Especially, via awareness campaigns that will empower citizens to critically evaluate digital content and make informed decisions.
Deepfake, Global Overview
There has been an increase in the momentum to regulate deepfakes globally. In October 2023, US President Biden signed an executive order on AI risks instructing the US Commerce Department to form labelling standards for AI-generated content. California and Texas have passed laws against the dangerous distribution of deepfake images that affect electoral contexts and Virginia has targeted a law on the non-consensual distribution of deepfake pornography.
China promulgated regulations requiring explicit marking of doctored content. The European Union has tightened its Code of Practice on Disinformation by requiring social media to flag deepfakes, otherwise they risk facing hefty fines and proposed transparency mandates under the EU AI Act. These measures highlight a global recognition of the risks that deepfakes pose and the need for a robust regulatory framework.
Conclusion
With deepfakes being a significant source of risk to trust and democratic processes, a multi-pronged approach to regulation is in order. From enshrining measures against deepfake technology in specific laws and penalising the same, mandating transparency and enabling public awareness, the legislators have a challenge ahead of them. National and international efforts have highlighted the urgent need for a comprehensive framework to enable measures to curb the misuse and also promote responsible innovation. Cooperation during these trying times will be important to shield truth and integrity in the digital age.
References
- https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2245&context=jss
- https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/regulating-deepfakes-generative-ai-in-india-explained/article67591640.ece
- https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/regulating-ai-deepfakes-and-synthetic-media-political-arena
- https://www.responsible.ai/a-look-at-global-deepfake-regulation-approaches/
- https://thesecretariat.in/article/wake-up-call-for-law-making-on-deepfakes-and-misinformation
