19 February,2026 06:10 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Congress social media department head Supriya Shrinate. File Pic
The Congress on Thursday claimed that nine of its videos created using artificial intelligence (AI) were "forcefully deleted" by BJP governments at the Centre and in various states. The party said the move was a "blatant misuse" of blocking rules and called for more transparency from the government.
At a press conference, Congress social media department head Supriya Shrinate accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP-ruled state governments of curbing dissent. She claimed the deleted AI videos all carried proper disclaimers indicating they were AI-generated and were not meant to mislead anyone.
Shrinate said, "Throughout the entire duration of the videos, 'AI-generated video' is prominently displayed at the top, which clearly proves that there was no attempt to mislead or deceive anyone," as per PTI reports.
According to her, deletion orders came from both state authorities in Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, as well as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Shrinate criticized the Modi government's handling of AI initiatives, citing the controversy over Galgotias University displaying a Chinese-made robotic dog at the India AI Impact Summit as its own innovation. She argued this reflects broader issues of imitation over innovation. "Imitation is not innovation, but does the government care? Modi ji, no matter what you say, your legacy is that private university which has brought us global shame," she said.
She also claimed that instead of deleting AI videos and curbing dissent, the Prime Minister should focus on national interests, farmers' rights, and governance issues.
The Congress leader called the video deletions a misuse of the IT Rules, 2021, noting that there is no public explanation for the take downs."This is how authoritarian regimes work - by giving orders to social media platforms to take down or block content arbitrarily in complete secrecy," Shrinate said, stressing that citizens deserve clarity on what was illegal in the videos as per PTI reports.
The party also questioned if political satire and commentary using AI would be treated the same way, warning that such censorship undermines democratic freedoms.
(With PTI Inputs)
