I-T unearths Rs 871 crore scam in Rajkot bank

India is currently polling in the Lok Sabha elections, and AI-generated videos that spread disinformation have emerged as a major threat. As per a report, Meta approved several political advertisements manipulated by Artificial Intelligence that spread disinformation during Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Facebook reportedly approved ads that contained slurs towards Muslims in India like “let’s burn this vermin” and “Hindu blood is spilling, these invaders must be burned” along with disinformation about political leaders and other messages with Hindu supremacist language.

Another advert approved by the owner of Facebook and Instagram called for an opposition leader's execution who as per a false claim sought to “erase Hindus from India”. This ad contained the image of a Pakistan flag alongside the message.

The report comes at a time when the social media platform X had to recently take down an animated video shared by the Karnataka unit of the BJP after an Election Commission direction.

India Civil Watch International (ICWI) and Ekō, a corporate accountability organisation created and submitted these adverts to Meta's ad library to test the company's mechanism to detect and block harmful political content.

All adverts “were created based upon real hate speech and disinformation prevalent in India, underscoring the capacity of social media platforms to amplify existing harmful narratives," the report mentioned.

The researchers submitted 22 adverts to Meta in English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Kannada, of which 14 were approved. Another three were approved with small tweaks. However, once approved, the researchers immediately removed the ads before their publication.

The research concluded that Meta failed to detect the presence of AI-manipulated images in all of the approved ads.

While five of the adverts, including one with some allegations against PM Modi were rejected on charge of breaking Meta's policy on hate speech, the report noted that the 14 others approved targetted Muslims and “broke Meta’s own policies on hate speech, bullying and harassment, misinformation, and violence and incitement."

“Supremacists, racists and autocrats know they can use hyper-targeted ads to spread vile hate speech, share images of mosques burning and push violent conspiracy theories – and Meta will gladly take their money, no questions asked,” the Guardian quoted Maen Hammad, a campaigner at Ekō as saying.

In response, Meta clarified that they require advertisers to disclose their use of AI.

“When we find content, including ads, that violates our community standards or community guidelines, we remove it, regardless of its creation mechanism. AI-generated content is also eligible to be reviewed and rated by our network of independent factcheckers – once a content is labeled as ‘altered’ we reduce the content’s distribution. We also require advertisers globally to disclose when they use AI or digital methods to create or alter a political or social issue ad in certain cases," the company said in response.

Meanwhile, Meta has been accused in the past of failing to curb Islamophobia on its platforms.

“This election has shown once more that Meta doesn’t have a plan to address the landslide of hate speech and disinformation on its platform during these critical elections,” Hammad said questioning how one can trust Meta if it fails to detect even a handful of AI-generated images.

Udupi: Udupi became the second city on the Karnataka coast after Mangaluru to launch water rationing, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Commissioner of the Udupi City Municipal Corporation Rayappa said that the rationing system will come into force from Wednesday and will continue till the water in the reservoir reaches comfortable levels.

The dam built across the Swarna river at a place called Baje, which is the only source of water for Udupi city, recorded 3.25 meters of water as against the top level of 6.30 meters.

The decision of water rationing will be reviewed periodically until the reservoir regains its fullest levels, the official said.

The Mangaluru City Corporation resorted to water rationing on Saturday following declining water levels in the reservoir built across the Nethravati river at Thumbe. 

Bengaluru, May 14: JD(S) leader HD Revanna has been released from Parappana Agrahara Jail today, on May 14 after he was granted conditional bail. 

He was granted a conditional bail yesterday by a Bengaluru court in connection with a kidnapping case linked to sexual abuse allegation against him and his son Prajwal.

Revanna was arrested on May 4 by Special Investigative Team (SIT) officials in a kidnapping case registered against him at KR Nagar police station in the city. The case is linked to his son and Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna’s mega sex scam. 

Representing the JD(S) MLA from Holenarsipura, he termed this case a "political conspiracy" against him.

A SIT, constituted by the Karnataka government, is probing the alleged sexual abuse against against HD Revanna and his son Prajwal Revanna.

Prajwal Revanna, the incumbent MP, is seeking another term from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency. The voting for the seat took place on April 26.

Earlier, JD (S) chief HD Kumaraswamy alleged that Karnataka government does not want a fair inquiry.

"They are misusing the office. Nothing is going to happen ultimately. They wanted character assassination of HD Revanna and for that reason, they are using their office," Kumaraswamy told ANI.

Meeting Karnataka Governor Tawara Chanda Gehlot on May 9, a delegation of the Janata Dal (Secular) submitted a memorandum and urged Gehlot to recommend a CBI probe.

Prajwal sill absconding

The JD(S) MP, Prajwal, fled to Germany after Karnataka State Commission for Women Nagalakshmi Chowdhary wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seeking an investigation into over obscene videos of Prajwal Revanna allegedly sexually abusing several women. He has also skipped summons issued by the SIT to appear before it.

The ‘obscene videos’ involving Prajwal Revanna started making the rounds ahead of the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 26, triggering a political slugfest.

A lookout notice against Prajwal Revanna has been issued at all airports in India, along with a Blue Corner notice. A Blue Corner notice issued by Interpol helps countries collect and share information regarding a person's location and their activities as part of a criminal investigation.