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Time of India
15-07-2025
- Time of India
Babydoll Archi wasn't real: How a viral AI Instagram star was built on one real woman's photo for fame, revenge and profit
An AI-generated Instagram handle named "Babydoll Archi" recently grabbed national attention after it went viral for its seductive reels and hyper-curated visuals. With over 1.4 million followers, the account appeared to showcase a woman named Archita Phukan who lip-synced and posed in glamorous outfits—quickly becoming a sensation. But behind the digital glamor lay a grim reality. Phukan did not exist. The account was built using AI-generated and morphed images created from a single photo of a real woman—an unsuspecting resident of Dibrugarh, Assam—who was never part of this narrative. This case has now become one of the most talked-about instances of cyber defamation in India, blending personal revenge, artificial intelligence, and a disturbing obsession with sexually suggestive content. How a fake Instagram star took over the internet The viral reel of 'Babydoll Archi' lip-syncing to Kate Linn's Spanish track Dame Un Grrr marked the beginning. The Instagram handle quickly gathered followers, earned the verified blue tick, and was shown collaborating with major influencers. However, behind the scenes, a man named Pratim Bora from Tinsukia, Assam, was operating the account. Police say he used a morphed version of a woman's photo to fabricate Archi's persona. Bora, a mechanical engineer working remotely from Assam, was arrested after Dibrugarh Police traced the account's origin and linked it to him. From harassment to monetised fame "What started as harassment soon turned into a profit-making business," said SSP Sizal Agarwal, leading the investigation. Bora reportedly began with the intent of digitally harassing a past acquaintance. But once the content started gaining traction, he monetised it through viral reels and a paid Linktree page called 'Actual Fans'. In just five days, he earned Rs 3 lakh. Police believe he made up to Rs 10 lakh overall by circulating AI-generated adult content. The account was created in August 2020 and changed names twice, most recently from Babydoll Archi to Amira Ishtara. Authorities confiscated Bora's devices, SIM cards, and financial records, and are investigating fake Gmail accounts, AI tools, and possible collaborators. Bora reportedly used AI software like OpenAI and Midjourney to generate sexually suggestive content from the one photo he had. The internet's obsession with sex, shame, and spectacle Despite early doubts about the account's authenticity, the public eagerly consumed the content. The involvement of US adult star Kendra Lust—whether genuine or fabricated—further blurred lines between fiction and reality. The widespread assumption was that Archita Phukan was a real Indian woman entering the adult industry, when she was, in fact, a digitally manipulated fabrication. This incident has reignited debates on India's complicated relationship with adult videos and sex. While not officially classified as a mental disorder, this addiction is being discussed increasingly by psychologists and researchers. The Babydoll Archi case shows how adult content—especially AI-generated—is finding new ways to spread under the garb of entertainment. Why lack of sex education keeps the cycle alive Noida-based psychologist Shreya Kaul believes that India's silence around sex fuels the very addiction and exploitation it condemns. 'There's a clash of ideologies. Sex is taboo, but the curiosity is endless,' she said. That curiosity, when not guided by informed conversations, turns toward distorted and unhealthy representations of intimacy—often found in adult vidoes. With mobile access growing and sex education remaining limited or absent, young Indians often turn to adult vidoes as their first exposure to sexual content. However, what they find is far removed from real-world relationships—choreographed, filtered, and often exploitative. Women, in particular, are vulnerable to public shaming, with labels and moral judgments being thrown easily—whether they choose to express sexuality or are falsely portrayed in such content. The need for urgent safeguards The Babydoll Archi case underscores an urgent need for better regulation of AI tools, legal clarity on deepfake crimes, and widespread digital literacy. More importantly, it exposes a cultural unwillingness to talk openly about consent, privacy, and sex. As the lines between real and artificial continue to blur, the question remains—are we ready to protect individuals from being turned into digital fantasies for mass consumption? If not, India's adult video problem is no longer just a moral debate—it's a full-blown tech crisis.
Indian Express
14-07-2025
- Indian Express
‘Adult content' made her an overnight sensation. Now, a police arrest reveals how Assam woman was victim of AI used by ex-collegemate
Last week, an Assamese woman's 'provocative posts' on Instagram became the subject of headlines, including claims that she had entered the adult film industry. Now, it has emerged that she was the victim of a cybercrime from a man she studied with, and who allegedly morphed her images and videos using AI tools to harass her. The accused, 30-year-old Pratim Bora, is a mechanical engineer who had a work-from-home job and was arrested by Dibrugarh police from Tinsukia on Saturday night. He has been booked under sections of the BNS, including criminal force to outrage a woman's modesty, sexual harassment, production and circulation of obscene material, criminal intimidation, creating false material to harm someone's reputation and defamation. Dibrugarh SSP in-charge, Sizal Agarwal, said on Sunday that the woman, who is around the same age as the accused and is married, had filed a complaint with the Dibrugarh police on Saturday, alleging that her images had been morphed and circulated on social media. She said that police tracked Bora down with the help of the information that he had provided on Instagram to create the profile, which gathered more than a million followers in a short period. 'When she gave us the complaint, she gave us a reference to an Instagram page. We sought its details and found a contact number. From there, we traced the identity of the accused, whom we have arrested. We cross-checked with the woman if she knew Pratim Bora. She confirmed that they had studied together and had a past acquaintance. It confirmed our suspicion that he was behind it,' said ASP Agarwal. Agarwal told The Indian Express that the accused and the woman had been in college from 2013 to 2017. Police said that Bora appeared to be using AI software such as OpenArt and Midjourney. 'We have seized a laptop, two mobile phones, a hard disk, a tablet, a pen drive, a card reader and some SIM cards. When there is a digital crime, information is sought from multiple agencies. Since the case was only registered yesterday, it is at a preliminary stage. He has used AI software, so we will seek all the information. What credentials he used to create all this, how many fake profiles and IDs he created,' said Agarwal. She said that while the Bora appeared to have begun creating and circulating the content for 'harassment based on personal reasons,' he had also made money by monetising the content. 'From our interrogation, we found that he was trying to harass the woman based on personal reasons. After a while, when he created a webpage on Linktree and gave a link to view pornographic content, there was a subscription system. He got money from the subscription. So as the crime continued, he began earning and got almost Rs 10 lakh from the whole process. He became greedy after that and continued the crime because of that,' she said. The profile has amassed millions of views and followers in the past week after a morphed photo of the victim with adult film personality Kendra Lust was uploaded on July 2 with a caption suggesting that she was joining the adult film industry. The provocative posts on the account date back to 2022.
Time Business News
14-07-2025
- Business
- Time Business News
Mastering Creator Commerce in 2025: Why Pop Store Is Leading the 'Link in Bio' Revolution
Scrolling three seconds, double-tapping, then… dead end . Social apps give you a single bio link and zero data about who actually cares. Algorithm tweaks slash reach, affiliate fees nibble margins, and your 'followers' are just rented eyeballs on someone else's turf. For creators who rely on platform whimsy, that's a fragile way to make a living. So what is in functional terms? Think of it as a mini Shopify, Substack, Calendly, and Linktree stitched into one sleek mobile storefront. You paste one URL into your Instagram or TikTok bio; fans tap and instantly see everything you offer—digital downloads, gated videos, subscriptions, merch, even 1-to-1 booking appointment.. Every purchase drops first-party contact data straight into your dashboard, so you can hit back later via email or SMS without fighting another algorithm reset. Own the list. Every buyer becomes a contact you export anytime. Every buyer becomes a contact you export anytime. Monetize anything. Products, services, affiliate deals, or content paywalls. Products, services, affiliate deals, or content paywalls. Operate fast. Set up in minutes, no code, no web-host drama. One link, full catalog. The store loads like a social feed—image first, tap to unlock content—but runs on checkout rails optimised for mobile wallets and global payment methods. No ugly redirects, no abandoned carts. Every $2 preset or $200 coaching call yields a full contact card: email, phone, purchase history, and which post drove the click. Segment high-spenders, drip out launches, and watch customer lifetime value climb. Digital products: e-books, LUTs, templates, AI avatar packs e-books, LUTs, templates, AI avatar packs Subscriptions: monthly communities, exclusive newsletters, tip jars monthly communities, exclusive newsletters, tip jars Pay-to-view: single videos, behind-the-scenes photos, premium blogs single videos, behind-the-scenes photos, premium blogs Services & bookings: 1:1 consults, group workshops, cameo-style shout-outs 1:1 consults, group workshops, cameo-style shout-outs Affiliate shelves: showcase sponsor links, track clicks, claim commissions Creators can mix and match without juggling multiple platforms or payout dashboards. marketplace lists thousands of ready-to-collaborate brands. Accept offers inside the app or upload your own contracts, then gate unique discount codes behind your community join button—so every deal collects an email first. Real-time heat-maps show which Reel, Tweet, or Story drove each sale. Double down on winners, kill the dead weight, and report concrete ROI to sponsors. Data updates by the minute; no need for patched-together UTM spreadsheets. Platform Owns contact data? Sells digital & physical? Built-in CRM? Brand marketplace? ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Linktree ❌ No ⚠️ Limited ❌ No ❌ No ⚠️ Partial ✅ Yes ❌ No ❌ No Patreon ❌ No (Patreon emails fans) ✅ Yes (mostly memberships) ❌ No ❌ No When you crunch the numbers, the gap is obvious: ownership and flexibility belong to For a deeper dive, Adweek explains why first-party data is now the gold standard for creators. Sign up free at credit card. Choose a template, upload a profile pic, and match fonts to your brand palette. Add offers: drag-and-drop your PDF guide, price a monthly community, or paste an affiliate link. Connect payments via Stripe or PayPal. Paste the link into your social bios and tell fans, 'Everything's in the store!' Behind the scenes your CRM starts filling itself—no spreadsheet wrangling required. Lifestyle creator Aditi Rao (@aditidraws) swapped her old link aggregator for before a Lightroom preset launch. Result? Landing-page load time dropped by 60 %, checkout friction vanished, and her conversion rate jumped from 2 % to 12 % within 48 hours. More importantly, she captured 1,400 verified emails—primed for her upcoming course release. Algorithms already suppress organic reach to nudge creators toward paid boosts. Cookie-based ad targeting is vanishing, and sent-from-someone-else's-platform DMs rarely land. Owning first-party contact data is the antidote. With every sale or free download, hands you a future-proof distribution channel that no policy change can throttle. If you only remember one thing, remember this: platforms lease you access; lets you own it. So the next time a friend asks what is you can tell them it's the all-in-one creator HQ that turns followers into customers—and customers into a community you truly control. Ready to make the switch? Claim your free bio-store today and build on land you actually own. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
TechCrunch
10-06-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
YouTube says its ecosystem created 490k jobs and added $55B to the US GDP in 2024
YouTube released a report on Tuesday that shows just how influential the creator economy has become. YouTube says that its creative ecosystem contributed over $55 billion to the US GDP and supported more than 490,000 full time jobs, according to research by Oxford Economics. When YouTube talks about its creative ecosystem, it's not just talking about creators. This includes anyone who works with YouTube creators (video editors, assistants, publicists), as well as people who work for creator-oriented companies (Patreon, Spotter, Linktree, etc). But these figures continue to grow, even in a time when venture capitalists are no longer pouring money into the industry like they were about four years ago. In 2022, YouTube and Oxford Economics reported that its creative ecosystem about 390,000 jobs and contributed over $35 billion to the US GDP, meaning that these 2024 figures jumped by 100,000 jobs and $20 billion. These numbers are so large because YouTube provides the most consistent and lucrative opportunities for creators. Those who qualify for YouTube's Partner Program can earn 55% of revenue earned from ads; even for mid-range creators (not the MrBeasts of the world), that can amount to several thousand dollars a month. While TikTok and YouTube Shorts have tried to monetize their platforms, the industry hasn't figured out a way to reliably distribute ad revenue among short form creators. As both a fast-growing and often misunderstood sector, creators have been advocating for American institutions from banks to the government to better serve their industry. Some creators struggle to qualify for business credit cards or get certain business loans, regardless of their demonstrable financial solvency. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW These issues have become common enough to draw attention. Just last week, U.S. Representatives Yvette Clark (D-NY) and Beth Van Dune (R-TX) announced their bipartisan Congressional Creators Caucus to support and recognize the potential of the creator economy.
Hindustan Times
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
The All-American Rejects' ‘house party' tour has fans going wild
The All-American Rejects are on a mission to bring house-parties back into the game. Having embarked on a 'House Party Tour' to promote their new single, fans now have the chance to bring their favorite 2000's punk-rock band to their own backyards by RSVPing a venue on the band's Linktree page. The concept for this tour arose out of the band's desire to reconnect with true fans at the ground level and challenge how lucrative the mainstream concert industry has become. So far, the band has played in a backyard in Chicago, a bowling alley in Minneapolis, a Columbia grad party at a private lawn in Missouri and the quad of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. This string of concerts kicked off on April 30, a week after the band released their single Sandbox, which is a part of their new album Easy Come, Easy Go, set to release on June 5. This will be the band's first album in 13 years. The band invited fans to send more locations for pop-up shows via a social media post. A post shared by The All-American Rejects (@therejects) The most recent show happened at a backyard in Nashville. A post shared by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone) To invite the band to their hometown, fans need only drop their contact details on an RSVP link at their Linktree page. The location of these pop-up shows is, however, kept confidential up until a few hours before performing and the fan who recommends the location is informed only some time prior to the band's arrival. Completely free of cost, these shows are a way for the band to challenge inflated pricing and lack of interest found at big concerts and reconnect with an audience that truly enjoys their music. 'We played this random house party [in Los Angeles], and it was like, of all the shows we played in the last 10 years, it was, like, this big wake-up call to the reality of, 'Oh, this is why we started doing this.' We played in house shows. We played backyards, VFWs, and I just told my manager, 'That worked. Let's do that,'" explained Tyson Ritter, frontman of the All-American Rejects. Ritter also gave a speech to the packed crowd at a recent house party where he stressed on the importance of delivering nostalgia and true songs to its fan base rather than trying to make a quick buck and thanked his audience for keeping the spirit of rock and roll alive. A post shared by 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘 (@takingbacksaturday) Fans took to social media to express their admiration of the brand's genius marketing move and love for their fans. The band's next house party is listed for May 23 following which they will be taking to the stage on July 7 in Calgary, Alberta which leaves sufficient space for more pop-up shows to be conducted in between. They are also slated to open the Jonas Brothers show at the Schottenstein Center on Nov 8.
