Indian Army & Deepfake

A few nights ago, my phone lit up with a video of Gen. V. P. Malik, a man I respect almost as much as I respected my own father. A man whose integrity is unquestionable, whose leadership shaped an entire generation of soldiers. Yet as I watched the clip, my heart tightened. Something felt off. The words were his, the face was his, the tone almost his, but the soul was missing. I did what every Indian should do in that moment: I prayed that it was fake. And when I finally gathered the courage to send it to him the next morning, he replied instantly: “It’s a fake.” I was relieved, deep down I was sure that something was wrong. This was an attack a digital bullet fired not at a person, but at the Indian Army’s credibility, the one institution that remains untouched by political mud, public cynicism, or ideological pollution.

War has changed forever. It no longer begins with soldiers crossing borders. It begins with a clip that looks real, sounds real, and spreads faster than fact-checking ever can. Deepfakes are not technological mischief; they are psychological warfare, crafted with the precision of a sniper, designed to erode public trust, to sow confusion within the ranks, to trigger outrage among citizens, and to exploit our emotions before our minds even register what we are watching. For decades, our enemies failed to defeat the Indian Army on the battlefield. Now they’re attacking what they can reach perception, morale, unity. This is warfare without uniforms, without warning shots, without sirens. Just a forwarded message on WhatsApp.

The Indian soldier is trained to recognise landmines, to read the wind, to differentiate between silence and danger. But what does he do when the landmine is a video? When the ambush is digital? When the attack comes through the very device he uses to speak to his family from a post in the icy heights? Deepfakes don’t merely target individuals; they target morale. And in military life, morale is not a luxury, it is oxygen. When a serving soldier sees a doctored video of a respected general saying something inflammatory or divisive, the damage is instantaneous. The clarification may come later, but the emotional hit has already been taken. For a force that fights with heart first and weapon later, this is a dangerous new front.

The public must understand that they are now part of the war. Every time we forward a video without verifying it, we unknowingly participate in an attack on our own forces. We become messengers in an enemy’s psychological operation. This isn’t exaggeration; it is the new battlefield of hybrid warfare. China uses deepfakes to demoralise Taiwanese forces. Russia uses them to influence elections. Pakistan uses them to spark communal tension. And now deepfakes are being used against Indian military leadership. The question is no longer whether this will happen again. The question is whether we, as citizens, are prepared.

Institutions will do their part. The Army will strengthen its digital forensics. The government will put protocols in place. Platforms will eventually learn responsibility. But the strongest shield still lies with the ordinary citizen. Pause before forwarding anything. If something looks too shocking, too dramatic, or too perfect, assume it is manipulated. Verify from the source, senior military leaders, official handles, veteran groups. Understand the intent behind every video: if it tries to provoke anger against the Army or create mistrust between communities, it is an attack. And above all, do not let a digital lie break your emotional bond with the Indian Army. They protect us from enemies we cannot see; the least we can do is protect them from lies we can.

The Indian Army has survived every kind of battle, wars, infiltrations, insurgencies, political storms, and decades of proxy conflict. But now it faces a new battlefield where truth itself is under fire. And in this war, every citizen is a soldier. When we choose caution, India wins. When we choose outrage, the enemy wins. The deepfake of Gen. Malik wasn’t just a manipulated video, it was a warning shot. A reminder that threats to India don’t always cross borders; sometimes, they seep into our homes through the vast, unregulated world of social media. Our enemies will stoop to any level, using every tool available, to sow unrest among us.

Jai Hind