India’s New Viral AI Tool Is A Disinformation Steroid

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There is a new trend on Indian social media. Netizens are using Google’s Nano Banana editor—officially called Gemini 2.5 Flash Image—to drape themselves in retro sarees, or shrink into 3D figurines, or even hugging their younger selves. It’s fun, it's viral.

And it’s quite dangerous.

The same tool can be just as easily used to drape a top Indian politician in a hijab, drop billionaire George Soros in selfies with opposition leaders, or place India’s prime minister in the background of foreign leaders’ photos.

In India’s highly polarised cyberspace, you can turbocharge disinformation with just a few prompts.

Disinformation Is Easy

Google quietly rolled Nano Banana into its Gemini app editor a month ago, promising “natural-language edits” and “multi-image blends.”

My colleague Srijit and I ran it through some classic disinformation tropes.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee → her saree swapped for a hijab, implying hidden Muslim allegiance.

Rahul Gandhi (leader of India’s Congress party) taking a selfie with billionaire George Soros.

India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval suddenly sharing the stage with a portrait of V.D. Savarkar, an icon of Hindu nationalism.

A BJP functionary dropped beside OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi → inserted into a photo of Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina.

There were no restrictions, no warnings. Just a short prompt and your disinformation campaign is ready to blast.

Experts Warn Of Misuse Potential

Since Nano Banana’s release, Gemini has exploded: No. 1 on the US App Store (Sept 12), top five in 108 countries, and over 500 million images generated by 23 million first-time users.

Read: India leads the way on Google's Nano Banana with a local creative twist | TechCrunch

India is leading the charge, with saree filters, retro Bollywood looks, and “AI glamour shots” flooding feeds. 

“I think the potential risk is very high because these tools are capable of generating highly realistic photos and can be used to mislead viewers,” Siwei Lyu, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor and Director of the Media Forensic Lab at the University at Buffalo, told me over email.

“I think Google includes both a visible watermark and an invisible watermark known as SynthID,” Lyu noted.

He added that while detection algorithms on their Deepfake-o-Meter tool seem able to expose such images, “it is hard to keep pace with the continuous improvement of genAI tools.”

Verification and Detection

Sam Gregory, Executive Director at WITNESS, put it bluntly: “Don’t start with AI detection tools.”

His workflow starts with media literacy, and the SIFT method:

• Stop: check your emotional reaction.

• Investigate the source.

• Find alternative coverage.

• Trace the original with reverse image search.

“Then screen for ‘tells’, use OSINT checks on location/lighting/metadata, and finally use AI detection tools, ideally an ensemble dashboard. Even in the best of circumstances, good tools are likely not more than 85–90% accurate in the real world,” Gregory notes.

Nano Banana is delightful when you’re swapping sarees, but it's a different story when you are swapping reality for fiction.

Read my report here: Google’s Nano Banana Editor Makes Political Disinformation Effortless | BOOM

Updates

Indian Court Blocks AI Clip of Modi and His Mother

On Sept 17, the Patna High Court ordered the opposition Congress party to remove from social media an AI-generated video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his late mother. In the clip, she scolds him over his politics in a dream.

The court ruled it violated dignity and privacy and directed social platforms to stop its circulation.

Read: Patna High Court directs Congress to remove AI-generated video of PM Modi, his late mother - The Hindu 

Assam’s AI Election Video Sparks FIR

The very next day, Sept 18, the Assam Congress filed a police complaint against the ruling BJP’s IT Cell over an AI-generated video titled “Assam without BJP.”

The video depicts a Muslim-majority Assam under opposition rule—complete with renamed landmarks, beef stalls, and inflated population figures. The Congress says it promotes communal division ahead of the Sept 22 regional election, citing criminal conspiracy and hate-speech provisions.

Read: Assam Congress files FIR over BJP’s ‘communal’ video - The Hindu

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