Artificial Intelligence Being Used To Attack Women

As the outrage over the Kolkata rape cases still continues, issues of online abuse of women have once again come into focus. Another major incident has rocked the whole country and that is the sexual misconduct in the Malayalam industry. Part of the #metoo movement, the state’s film industry is now dealing with the controversy that surrounds the allegations.

According to various reports, at least 17 cases of sexual harassment were registered following complaints lodged by victims in the wake of the release of the Justice Hema Committee report.

On Tuesday, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) was dissolved after a 235-page report by the Justice Hema committee was released in redacted form last week. The association said the decision was made “in light of allegations made by some actors against some of the committee".

The report, which had been filed in 2019, was not available for public release until now, unleashing a flood of allegations against some of the ‘leaders’ of the Malayalam film industry. Several film stars and filmmakers are likely to be questioned in connection with these cases. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Kerala government in the wake of multiple allegations, is looking into the cases.

Meanwhile, in north India there has been outrage over the alleged murder of two Dalit girls who were found hanging from a tree in UP’s Farrukhabad.

The photo that went viral on social media has once again put forward the question of women safety and outrage, especially when it comes to strategically undervalued communities.

The families have demanded a murder probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the sensational case rejecting the local police’s claim that the girls died by suicide.

While gender-based violence has always been happening in the country, the lack of accountability from the side of authorities has brought forward a discriminatory system that has always existed but not improved.

It is also problematic how the attention is garnered only when the gory details are revealed. However, women all over the country are still suffering with so many cases going unnoticed by the masses.

For Ifrah (name changed on request) life changed completely when she was raped in 2020. The medical student who was at the time stuck at her hostel, was approached by Nadeem Nadu, who claimed to be a journalist. He assured her that he was helping women like her reach home, as there were heavy restrictions on public movement due to Covid-19.

“He picked me up, along with his friend and took me to a building on the pretext that they have to pick up another student. I was given something to eat after which I fainted,” she told The Citizen over the phone.

On waking up, Ifrah said that she was half naked and the two men in front of her were laughing. “They then told me that they have video recorded all the acts and will release it if I say anything or not listen to them,” she added.

According to news reports Nadu along with others was arrested on September 30 2022. In her complaint, Ifrah said that the accused took her objectionable pictures after sedating her and used these to blackmail her into forced sexual Intercourse many times.

A case under FIR no 50/22 in sections 376,384,506 of IPC was registered in Women PS Srinagar District.

“I was in a miserable position and did not know what to do about it. After some time, I realised something needed to be done and hence I filed a complaint,” Ifrah said, adding that she trusted Nadu, as he claimed to be a journalist.

While the accused was arrested, he was granted bail in December 2023 after being rejected three times. “We have approached the High Court to challenge the bail,” F. A. Wani, the lawyer in the case, told The Citizen.

The victim and her family have also alleged that the cases are not being deliberately heard. “The accused in the matter is very powerful. This is majorly why the case is not being heard,” Ifrah added.

Use of videos and photographs have always been used to blackmail women leading them to long suffering.

The United Nations Women reports that “a large gender gap continues in technology and innovation, despite recent improvements. Women and girls are underrepresented in industries, academia and the broader technology sector.”

Use of social media has created a massive web of arena for accused to victimise women. According to the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) low- and middle-income countries have lost out on an estimated US$ 1 trillion, from the gross domestic product in the last decade by excluding women from the digital world.

Quoting the ‘UN Women’s Gender Snapshot 2022 report’ the report said it is projected to inflict an additional damage of US$ 1.5 trillion. The report further stated that “this damaging trend cannot be rectified if concerted efforts are not undertaken to tackle the increasing online violence against women”.

Another recent survey carried out in 22 countries reported that girls and young women are the biggest targets of online abuse.

Many women that The Citizen spoke to said they are afraid of sharing their details, especially on social media as it can be misused.

For Ifrah, the Kashmiri society, which is already conservative, would not have understood how she was being harassed in such a manner. “My family still do not know I am the victim because I know they will die if they come to know about the incident. I am already shattered and it will shatter me even more to see them like this,” she added.

As per the National Crimes Record Bureau, reports of cyber-crime increased in India by 24.4% in 2022 from the year before. Many times, women do not even come forward to report a crime.

Harish Yadav, Assistant Professor at Nehru Memorial Law College, Hanumangarh Town, Rajasthan, in his research stated that cybercrimes against women in India are a growing concern, with a significant impact on women's mental and physical health, as well as their economic well being.

Online harassment, cyber stalking, cyber bullying, revenge porn, and financial fraud, are the most common forms of cybercrime against women in the country.

According to a study by the National Commission for Women, 54.8% of women have experienced cyber harassment. “Online harassment can lead to significant mental distress, anxiety, and fear among women, making them feel unsafe and vulnerable,” the research stated.

Artificial Intelligence is another form that is rapidly being used to attack women. One of the major concerns pointed out by experts is the issue of deepfake and how it is making women more vulnerable to online harassment.

Deepfake is where highly deceptive videos are used and is morphed on the victim’s face, which will seem like it is the person in the video. These models are trained on data.

The thing with these fake AI is that they are a source of spreading misinformation and fake news.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) the top ways in which deepfake occurs are misinformation and defamation, and cyber harassment.

“Specific communities also have a higher likelihood of being targeted with rates of violence higher among girls and women of a minoritized race, ethnicity, gender expression, caste, or socio-economic status. Women in the global south are particularly vulnerable and individuals refrain from sharing their experiences with their families and communities due to embarrassment, lack of empathy, and fear of re-victimization. Abuse can also vary based on profession: women in journalism and in politics are two of the most threatened sub-communities,” state the UNESCO’s research.

It was also reported that in a survey of 901 women journalists, including those in prominent and visible positions, nearly three quarters (73%) said they had experienced online violence.

In India 'deep fake’ photos of wrestlers during the protest last year, and the targeted attacks on Muslim women through AI apps, were the major examples of how dangerous AI can be and how there are no proper cyber laws in place to handle it.

The Kolkata rape case was a chilling experience of gender-based violence. Many social media posts on the aftermath of the Kolkata rape case showed derogatory remarks against the victim. According to an article published by ‘The Quint’, since the case was reported on August 9, the postgraduate trainee doctor's name featured in top searches on Google.

Meanwhile, an investigation by India Today’s Open-Source Investigation (OSINT) team found a plethora of links and multimedia files offering purported videos of the victim’s “sex” and “porn,” being hosted and shared across multiple platforms, including some big tech companies.

The investigation scanned over 50 websites and online platforms, which revealed that most of these posts are intended to garner more web traffic. The platforms include popular social media sites like Facebook, encrypted messaging platforms like Telegram, as well as porn websites and other independently created domains.

“People started searching for videos of “sex,” “porn,” and “rape porn” in the context of the R.G. Kar hospital incident as gruesome details began making their way into the mainstream media and social sites.

“Search volumes for keywords like ‘Kolkata rape video,’ ‘Dr (victim’s name) video,’ and ‘(victim’s first name) porn’ spiked on August 16. On that day, one of the keywords containing the word ‘porn’ was searched for more than some other popular keywords,” the report revealed.

Speaking to The Citizen Mishi Chaudhary, founder of SLFC.in, a non-profit legal services organisation that has united lawyers, policy analysts, technologists, business professionals, students and citizens to protect freedom in the digital world since 2010 said that the use of large language model (LLM), a type of AI algorithm that uses deep learning techniques and massively large data sets to understand, summarise, generate and predict new content, will only give rise to disinformation.

“If you add harassment and cyberbullying; hate speech; deep fakes; catfishing; sextortion, doxing and privacy violations; and identity theft or fraud to that list and you begin to see a larger list of harms,” she added.

Chaudhary and other experts say that there is a need for firm laws and understanding of technology and its misuse in terms of gender-based violence.

The G20 Digital Economy Ministerial Declaration of Hamburg, 2017 recognised the need for prevention, protection, and raising resources and awareness of women and girls in the cyber world.

The ORF also recognised how cybercrimes against women in India have also surged alarmingly with a 110 percent spurt in cases lodged for publishing sexually explicit content.

“Although budget allocations for centrally sponsored schemes approved under the Schemes for the Safety of Women such as the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children have been raised, a lot remains to be achieved,” ORF stated. They emphasised on the fact that online gender-based violence surged globally during the pandemic and most nations struggled to grapple with the violation of women’s online lives in the absence of a strong legislative framework.

“People of all genders are falling victim to online abuse but an overall majority of them happen to be women and girls. It is particularly hurting women and girls who stand at the intersectionality of social disadvantage such as race, class, caste, religion and disability.

“Amongst women, women of colour are more susceptible to online violence, while women belonging to ethnic or religious minorities and women with disabilities, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex women (LBTI) are facing brickbats on social media platforms.

“Peer inflicted online abuse is not only limited to young people but also extends to women who wield power. It’s also turning out as a power play and dominance often targeting those who dare to transgress patriarchal stereotypes and are propounding gender empowerment.

“Time and again, the digital space has zeroed down on women’s leadership, be it politicians, celebrities, public figures, journalists, environmentalists, influencers, and other activists. Many have been subject to relentless trolling and smear campaigns that undermine their agency and delegitimizing their workplace,” the ORF stated.

While India has its own cyber law named the Information Technology Act, 2000, its implementation has been weak.

The Information Technology Act, 2000 that came into force on October 17 2000 applies to the entire country. Its provisions also apply to any offence or contravention, committed even outside the territorial jurisdiction of the Republic of India, by any person irrespective of his nationality.

In order to attract provisions of this Act, such an offence or contravention should involve a computer, computer system, or computer network located in India. The IT Act 2000 provides an extraterritorial applicability to its provisions by virtue of Section 1(2) read with Section 75. This Act has 90 Sections.

It is under Section 66E of Indian cyber law, if a person captures, transmits, or publishes private images of another’s body without their knowledge or consent, that person faces imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to Rs. 2 Lakhs, or both.

“India has been notorious to have laws that are used not to check actual harassment but harass the victims instead. Weaponization of social media by political parties goes unchecked with impunity,” Chaudhary said.

The ORF suggested that for India, a good start “would be to pass the amendment to the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 (IRWA), to include virtual spaces, which has been pending before parliament for over nine years”.

“This is imperative because IRWA in its present avatar primarily prohibits indecent representation of women through advertisements or in publications, writings, paintings, or figures.

“This unfortunately seems archaic as the virtual space continues to expand at lightning speed victimising women through cyberstalking, bullying, defamation, cyber pornography, morphing, malicious distribution of personal images, zoom bombing, online trolling, blackmailing, threats and intimidation, the list is a bottomless pit.

“This calls for a dynamic and flexible legislative system which will be able to acclimatise itself to protect the rights of women. Generic laws often get entrapped into censorship and run the risk of undermining the rights of women like healthy discussions on gender and reproductive health,” ORF wrote in its report.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is celebrated as the future of technology, experts believe no work is being done to control its power. This, many believe, will lead to dangerous consequences.

But for the victims of these gender-based violence, justice is still a long road. “There was a point I realised there is nothing worse than this that can happen to me. At the most I will die, but I could not let this go on. The accused’s wife and lawyer have also revealed my identity but I am not giving up. I know my family cannot stand it, but how much are women supposed to suffer,” Ifrah said.

In India, a new wave of #metoo has now started but the question still remains, will the accused face the consequences or get away with it because they have power or support.