The BJP employed deepfake technology in the 2020 Delhi legislative assembly elections

The claim that the BJP employed deepfake technology in the 2020 Delhi legislative assembly elections is accurate. Reports from multiple sources, including Technology Review, Vice, and Mashable, confirm that the BJP used deepfake videos of their president, Manoj Tiwari, to reach a wider audience by translating his speech into different languages, including Haryanvi. These deepfakes were distributed widely on WhatsApp, reaching approximately 15 million people. The use of deepfakes in this context was intended to enhance the party's outreach by making the content more relatable to diverse linguistic groups. This marked the first known instance of deepfakes being used in an election campaign in India, raising concerns about the potential for misinformation and the ethical implications of such technology in political campaigns.