Viral DHA gun harassment videos under scrutiny

Police suspect AI-generated content, seek CCTV footage

KARACHI:

South District police are investigating viral social media videos purportedly showing young men in a car intimidating and harassing male and female passers-by by displaying firearms in DHA, with officials saying some footage may have been generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

Police said efforts had been launched on the directives of the DIG South to identify and trace the individuals shown in the videos. According to preliminary information, the videos were uploaded to social media around 32 hours earlier, but the account used to post them was subsequently deleted.

Police are identifying the locations visible in the footage and obtaining CCTV recordings from the relevant areas to establish the authenticity of the videos and determine what actually happened.

The spokesperson for police said an initial assessment had raised suspicions that some elements of the footage might have been created using AI. However, he stressed that no definitive conclusion could be reached until investigators had examined the available evidence.

South District police are also searching for the individuals appearing in the videos, a flower seller and other potential eyewitnesses to verify the events.

Given the possible cybercrime aspect of the case, police have contacted the NCCIA to trace the deleted social media account.