There are few acts more deplorable and condemnable than getting back at or trying to silence an opponent by going after his or hers immediate family in the most personal manner possible. PTI Senator Azam Swati has been put through an ordeal many wouldn’t wish upon their bitterest foes; an ‘objectionable video’ of himself and his wife being released to a selection of prominent journalists and politicians through private messages by unknown numbers over whatsapp. The video is obviously and patently a deepfake and it requires no expert to instantly make that deduction. Swati’s emotional press conference where he broke down in tears, after describing his harrowing experience, is an understandable and expected reaction to what had happened. It would have been preferable however that the outpour of support for Swati better highlighted the fact that the video in question, the basis of the entire episode, is entirely manufactured with the sole purpose of doing irreparable damage to the reputation and social standing of Swati and his spouse. This relative lack of emphasis on the inauthenticity of the video has allowed it to gain some credence, something that is highly unfortunate.
With the fast paced advancement of technology and the ability to cramp in enormous amounts of efficient computing power in small inexpensive devices, the advent of applications used primarily to create ultra-realistic fake visual content was inevitable. Scandals based on video and audio leaks have become a part of high stakes politics in Pakistan of late and the Swati incident only goes to show how vulnerable everyone really is. That the FIA almost immediately after the video went viral in messaging groups, issued an official statement stating that it was an absolute fake, is welcome, but it must now investigate where it originated from and more importantly, who made it. Whoever is responsible has ample motive and resources to create such media and disseminate it and will presumably not stop until certain goals are reached. It is therefore imperative that the perpetrators’ identity is found out and revealed.
