Maharashtra police flags cross-border disinfo campaign using AI to amplify NEET protest narratives

Anti-social elements from Pakistan and Middle Eastern countries were amplifying misleading narratives, says cyber cell

Published July 28, 2026 11:29 pm IST — MUMBAI

By The Hindu Bureau

The Maharashtra State Cyber Department on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) said it had identified links to nearly 500 social media profiles allegedly involved in a “cross-border disinformation campaign” during the Cockroach Janata Party protests.

“Technical analysis indicated the involvement of anti-social elements operating from outside India, particularly from Pakistan and certain Middle Eastern countries, who were actively amplifying misleading narratives targeting Indian audiences,” a press statement issued by the office of the Additional Director General of Police of the Maharashtra State Cyber Department stated.

The police said the AI-generated content included:

• Digitally inflated crowd visuals
• Synthetic voice generation
• Cloned audio
• Manipulated videos falsely attributed to public figures

Crackdown Underway

Maharashtra Police has initiated legal action against the identified accounts and has taken down the said content through social media intermediaries.

“The monitoring drive resulted in the identification of 429 objectionable social media posts and handles across multiple platforms, including Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube. Technical assessment revealed that approximately 100 accounts were operating from outside India. Further analysis established that more than 140 posts and profiles involved AI-generated or AI-assisted content, which was scientifically detected and validated using Maharashtra Cyber’s state-of-the-art audio-video forensic analysis tools,” the statement said.

The police have been monitoring social media through dedicated mechanisms involving:

• Large-scale Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT)
• Metadata examination
• Behavioural analysis
• Forensic examination of AI-generated and deepfake content

“During the course of this monitoring exercise, we identified a coordinated network of social media accounts disseminating false, misleading and AI-generated content with the apparent objective of manipulating public perception, creating confusion, provoking unrest and disturbing public order,” the press release read.