Is RAPO’s Aadhaar Advice a Solution to Curb Online Abuse?

Anonymity has long been a potent online weapon for miscreants to misuse social media for attacking others in various forms. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence, the culture has now turned more extreme with many users misusing it to create sexually explicit content, derogatory imagery and fake vocals.

The recent controversy involving deepfakes targeting actors like Janhvi Kapoor and Jr NTR has sparked deep outrage across the film industry and social media platforms and once again triggered a debate on how to identify the culprits behind such obnoxious acts.

Amid the widespread condemnation, Tollywood actor Ram Pothineni offered a solution that immediately caught public attention: “They’re Faceless so they’re Fearless! Accountability is the need of the hour. Linking Aadhaar to online identities may be the most effective way to ensure accountability and curb online abuse going forward,” wrote Ram reacting to NTR’s post on X.

As anonymity is indeed the biggest shield for those doing these deplorable online activities, many netizens and general public felt that Ram’s suggestion might offer a solution to put an end to this culture.

On social media platforms like X, Instagram, or Telegram, anyone can create an unverified account in seconds, share abusive or morphed content, and delete the profile before local police even start investigating. If every user profiles were verified through a genuine identity proofs like Aadhaar, majority of the users would think twice before posting anything against the law.

Recently, some anonymous offenders used AI to stoke religious tensions in Ujjain by spreading fake videos of the demolition of a Mosque when some minor road widening works were being carried out.

Many such unwarranted and anti-social activities are being committed every day in the name of freedom of speech and with anonymity as they have no fear of being caught by law enforcement agencies.

As suggested by Ram Pothineni, when the real identity is linked to every social media account opened, it will not just deter individuals from misusing but also help police track cybercriminals in hours instead of waiting months for global tech companies to hand over IP addresses and those behind them.

However, such an exercise will have several drawbacks which make it not practically feasible to enforce. Making it mandatory for everyone to link government IDs to social media accounts creates massive security risks. When these platforms get hacked, there will be a huge privacy breach because the personal data on foreign private servers could lead to leaks and identity theft by cybercriminals.

Moreover, most of these platforms operate globally. So, users outside India could still misuse it with the help of international servers which are beyond the reach of Indian regulations.

Ram’s suggestion comes as a result of genuine frustration in the wake of many such recent incidents, including the unsavoury edit involving NTR and Jahnvi Kapoor. But forcing an Aadhaar link across the entire internet seems impractical measure that might not offer a complete viable solution but create more serious issues.

Only strict legal enforcement against the misuse of AI and stringent action on those who act in violation of an individual’s dignity on social media can provide some practical solution. Also, social media platforms should be equally held responsible for simply allowing such vile content to be posted without any verification.

Tags Ram Pothineni