For fake's sake, get real: The grand industrial complex of digital deception
Welcome to a dangerous epoch where AI is much more than a nuisance-it is a geopolitical and corporate threat. Bot farms now produce vast networks of virtual personas that mirror human behaviour with accuracy. These bots aren't just liking, sharing or retweeting. They are fabricating entire digital lives: posting photos, forming networks, engaging in debates and endorsing ideologies or products. This shift in influence has triggered a crisis of credibility. Take the case of TikTok. With over 1.5 bn users globally, its algorithmic content discovery engine rewards virality. Before it was banned in India, TikTok had over 20 crore users. The app was designed to amplify content regardless of provenance and was an ideal conduit for bot-driven disinformation.How have bot networks morphed into powerful digital armies? Professional outfits run these operations, employing thousands to manage millions of fake accounts that have curated timelines, believable comment histories and even AI-generated profile pictures.There are grave implications for India Inc. Here are 4 strategic inflection points leading to unprecedented vulnerabilities:
Manipulable info markets: When a significant portion of online sentiment can be manufactured, traditional indicators of brand health become unreliable. An FMCG brand might see a sudden dip in social media sentiment and initiate a costly PR or rebranding campaign, only to discover it was the target of a bot-driven smear effort. It costs little to contract a for-rent bot attack service, but it costs a great deal to defend against one. This asymmetric cost structure means even small players can distort markets. Vendors in eastern Europe offer armies of bots for as little as Rs 15,000 per campaign, whereas cybersecurity audits, reputation management firms or legal action will cost crores.
Conflicting incentives: Platforms benefit from engagement metrics, and they don't care about authenticity. This creates an environment where platforms cannot be trusted as objective sources of market information.
Disappearing control: The story of Martin Wolf from FT being impersonated online is something many Indians resonate with. Recently, RBI flagged over 600 fake finance apps using AI-generated personas to lure users into scams.
Reputational collapse: Recently, a leading tech firm saw a viral video falsely attributed to its HR head denigrating job applicants. The AI-generated deepfake video was amplified by bots. Despite a rebuttal, the reputational damage was done, investors panicked, share prices dipped and clients demanded clarifications. Globally, governments are waking up. The EU's Digital Services Act is a step in the right direction. But what of India? While the proposed Digital India Act begins to address digital harms, it is yet to fully comprehend the menace of industrialised artificial sentiment.A fundamental restructuring of how organisations gather and validate market intelligence is imminent. The existing social media platforms will be viewed as compromised sources of strategic information. There will be a rise in verified information ecosystems, which could emerge from existing platforms implementing stronger verification, or as entirely new environments built with authentication as a core principle.Legitimate privacy concerns must be balanced with the need for reliable information. Cultural differences in attitudes toward identity verification will create uneven adoption. But the strategic imperative is clear: organisations need reliable intelligence to make sound decisions.A possible solution is universal digital identity verification. India is uniquely positioned to pioneer this approach, thanks to Aadhaar. Could a parallel digital identity framework be implemented for social media? This wouldn't remove anonymity but would enable tiered verification where platforms cryptographically verify that a user is human, without disclosing their actual identity unless warranted by law. Anonymity must coexist with accountability.Startups could lead the way. Imagine an ecommerce platform that only allows verified reviews from Aadhaar-linked accounts. Or a fintech company that measures sentiment from authenticated communities instead of X hashtags. These aren't Orwellian visions, but pragmatic responses to a world where truth is hard to find.With a democratised UPI, India's digital journey proves that scalable, secure and citizen-centric infrastructure is achievable. To ignore the rise of artificial sentiment is to invite chaos into our decision-making frameworks. For India Inc, the moment to act is not tomorrow or next quarter. It is now. Because in the age of digital deception, only authenticity will endure.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
9 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Rs 2.4 crore salary without IIT or IIM: Father lost everything in stocks, son says 'life has been wonderful'
Synopsis A Delhi man has shared how he built a successful career without an IIT or IIM degree, despite his family facing a major setback in 2008 when his father lost everything in the stock market. Detailing his journey in a Reddit post, he described starting with a Rs 35,000 monthly salary in 2014 and eventually moving to the US in 2022, where he now earns over Rs 2.4 crore annually. Alongside career growth, he has prioritised travel, relationships, and unique life experiences, believing that health and time are more valuable than money beyond a certain point. Delhi Man Built a Rs 2.4 Crore Career After Father's Stock Market Loss. (Representative Image) In 2008, a middle-class family in Delhi faced a major setback when the father lost everything in the stock market. More than a decade later, his son — who never attended IIT or IIM — has built a successful career overseas, earning more than Rs 2.4 crore annually, and says his life has been 'wonderful.'He shared his journey in a Reddit post, describing his upbringing, education, career path, and the experiences that shaped his perspective. Born and raised in Delhi, he grew up in a middle-class home where his parents were relaxed and did not put pressure on him. The 2008 financial loss was the only significant difficulty in his early school, he took part in dramatics, dancing, socialising with friends, and other activities. He opted for science in Class 12 to gain social validation but had no interest in engineering or medicine. Later, he completed both his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Delhi began working in 2014 with a monthly take-home salary of Rs 35,000. In 2016, he changed jobs to be closer to his family and girlfriend, increasing his salary to Rs 60,000. Another switch in 2017 took his earnings to Rs 90,000 per with the same company for the next five years, he was earning Rs 2 lakh per month in India by 2021. In 2022, he moved to the United States after being offered an overseas position. His annual pay was $202,000 that year, $231,000 in 2023, and $255,000 in 2024. For 2025, he expects to end the year at $275,000 — over Rs 2.4 his career, he continued to enjoy life. He married his college sweetheart, is expecting his first child, and has travelled to 17 countries across four continents. His travels and activities have ranged from bullock cart rides to luxury flights, and from skydiving to whale said money is important up to a certain level, but beyond that, health, relationships, and experiences take priority. Time, he noted, cannot be regained, while money can be earned at any stage of life.
Economic Times
9 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Vikram Solar says co evaluating plans to set up manufacturing unit in the US
Representative image. Solar photovoltaic modules maker Vikram Solar is evaluating plans to set up operations in the US, company chairman and managing director Gyanesh Chaudhary told ET. "We are evaluating our plans to set up operations in the US and looking at how things will pan out in the light of the tariffs," Chaudhary said on to sources, Vikram Solar was planning to invest around $1.5 billion in setting up a 3 GW (gigawatt) solar photovoltaic modules plant in the US as part of the company's expansion plan of 15.5 GW module and 5 GW cell capacity by fiscal year however declined to comment on the investments being planned in the possible US facility. The company, which has filed a draft prospectus for its initial public offer, has a 4.5 GW module manufacturing capacity across its two plants in Bengal and Tamil Nadu. It has a sales office in the US which is also its largest export market, contributing around 61.10% of the company's total revenue from operations as of Wednesday the company fixed a price band of Rs 315 to Rs 332 per share for its upcoming Rs 2,079 crore initial public offering (IPO). The Kolkata-based firm's maiden public issue would open for subscription on August 19 and conclude on August 21, it IPO will include fresh issues of equities worth up to Rs 1,500 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of over 1.74 crore shares valued at around Rs 579.37 crore at the upper end of the price band, by its promoters. Of the fresh issuance, the company plans to use the proceeds for funding capital expenditure for investment in its wholly owned subsidiary, VSL Green Power Private Ltd, for both Phase I and Phase II of the project. Vikram Solar commenced its manufacturing operations in 2009 with an installed solar PV module manufacturing capacity of 12 MW, grown to 4.50 GW installed capacity as of the date. The company said its key domestic customers include prominent government entities, such as NTPC, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, and Gujarat Industries Power Company and private independent power producers (IPPs), like ACME Cleantech Solutions Adani Green Energy, Azure Power India, JSW Energy and Rays Power Infra, among others. The company is also planning to enter the battery energy storage systems (BESS) segment as a strategy to diversify its portfolio. It plans to start with a 1 GW BESS facility which will be scaled up to 10 GW or more.
Economic Times
9 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Startup IPOs deliver only 36% long-term return for investors: Report
Investors in initial public offerings (IPOs) of new-age tech companies have earned just 36% average returns, and only 32% of those who invested after listing have made gains, according to a report by advisory firm Client Associates. Titled The New-Age IPO Performance Analysis, the report examined 25 new-age tech IPOs launched between May 2020 and June 2025 across sectors including fintech, logistics, consumer internet, and software-as-a-service (SaaS). It assessed investor returns at three stages, pre-IPO, IPO, and post-IPO, using the BSE 500 as a benchmark. Mixed outcomes Startups like Ixigo and Zaggle delivered strong pre-IPO returns of 89.21% and 62.47%, respectively, while Ola Electric posted a 60.13% loss in the same phase. Overall, pre-IPO investments generated average returns of 43%, outperforming IPO and post-IPO investments. 'This assessment tells you that most prices have been driven by frenzy rather than business fundamentals,' said Shashank Agarwal, associate director at Client Associates. 'Unless you're an institutional investor, most retail investors chase market noise.' While companies such as Zomato and PolicyBazaar have fared better, others including Paytm, Ola Electric, and Mobikwik have significantly underperformed. The report argued that hype and narrative, rather than strong fundamentals, have driven most retail participation. IPO wave In 2024 alone, 13 new-age tech companies went public, raising close to Rs 29,070 crore. The list includes Swiggy, Go Digit, TBO Tek, Awfis, Ola Electric, FirstCry, Ixigo, and Unicommerce. The surge in tech-led IPOs has been fuelled by digital adoption, favourable demographics, and strong capital inflows, a shift from earlier IPO waves dominated by industrial and BFSI compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 121% between September 2021 and May 2025, compared with just 37% for those listed on the National Stock Exchange. Investors in BSE-listed shares earned 84% more annually than those holding NSE's unlisted shares over the past four years. Agarwal said BSE's listed status gives investors confidence, while NSE's IPO delays and regulatory challenges have made investors more cautious. Despite this, retail investors are actively buying unlisted shares of market infrastructure firms such as NSE and the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), even though these are illiquid and hard to trade. Unlisted vs listed returns Over the last four years, NSE's unlisted shares have returned 37%, while listed rival BSE surged 194%. Similarly, NSDL's unlisted shares gained 35% compared with a 69% return from listed competitor CDSL. The report concluded that while pre-IPO investments in select new-age companies have delivered strong returns, the IPO and post-IPO phases have been far less rewarding for most retail investors. It cautioned that chasing hype without assessing business fundamentals exposes investors to significant downside risk.
