Overview
- Maharashtra Cyber, which announced its findings on Monday, said a technology-driven monitoring exercise flagged more than 500 social media profiles tied to protests linked to the Cockroach Janata Party.
- The agency reported 429 objectionable posts across Instagram, X, Facebook and YouTube and said forensic tools found over 140 items that were AI-generated or AI-assisted.
- Technical provenance and metadata analysis indicated roughly 100 accounts were operated from outside India, with many traced to Pakistan and some to Middle Eastern countries.
- Investigators used OSINT, behavioural profiling and advanced audio-video forensics that detected manipulated visuals, digitally inflated crowd clips, cloned voices and synthetic speech, and have opened legal cases while asking platforms to remove content.
- Officials urged users to 'Pause, Verify and Share Responsibly' and warned that rapid spread of synthetic media can distort public view and raise risks to public order and trust in information, so ongoing platform cooperation and legal follow-up will be key to containment.