In a recent tweet, the Pakistani model and actress Mathira complained about some recent misuse of her name and old photographs for fabricating material. She condemned the practice on X (formerly Twitter), saying, “People are misusing my name and my photoshoot pictures, adding fake stuff in. Please have some shame! Keep me out of this trashy nonsense.”
It is one of several incidents associated with the larger issue that social media influencers face: unverified videos and photos are published online, potentially dangerous in terms of misinformation or additional harm.
This comes in the wake of several incidents of data breaches on social media accounts in Pakistan.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi recently revealed to the Senate that over 1,500 WhatsApp accounts have been hacked since July 1, and the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Wing has received 1,426 complaints pertaining to hacking of accounts during the period. Hackers find loopholes even after end-to-end encryption of private conversations by WhatsApp.
Mathira explained that the viral video attached to her name is created through AI on the microblogging site Threads. Famous for her daring fashion, she is again in the news because of her unique finger tattoos as the actress of the web series Blind Love.
Those misguided videos are not real because people are using artificial intelligence. It’s AI-created. People are making weird videos using AI- this is not me, she said emphatically.
It further came to know that the video is two years old, and she asserted that she has been undergoing anxiety and has pleaded before the FIA to help her resolve this issue.
Cases of data breach and digital misuse continue to mushroom, experts and commentators demanding more curbs on privacy for people. The ethical issues involved in secretly sharing private conversations and manipulated content hit the core and have now become sensitive due to high-profile personalities involved.
Meanwhile, Mathira’s demand for respect with accountability resonates with many who would want to have transparency in ethical standards within this age of digital media and AI-generated content.
