Maharashtra Police Uncovers Cross-Border Disinformation Network Targeting NEET Protests
The Maharashtra State Cyber Department on Tuesday (July 28, 2026) stated that it has identified nearly 500 social media profiles allegedly involved in a cross-border disinformation campaign during the recent NEET protests.
In a press statement, the office of the Additional Director General of Police of the Maharashtra State Cyber Department said: 'Technical analysis indicated the involvement of anti-social elements operating from outside India, particularly from Pakistan and certain Middle Eastern countries, who were actively amplifying misleading narratives targeting Indian audiences.'
The police said the content included AI-generated crowd visuals, synthetic voice generation, cloned audio, and manipulated videos falsely attributed to public figures.
Maharashtra Police has initiated legal action against the identified accounts and has taken down the content through social media intermediaries.
'The monitoring drive resulted in the identification of 429 objectionable social media posts and handles across multiple platforms, including Instagram, X, Facebook, and YouTube. Technical assessment revealed that approximately 100 accounts were operating from outside India. Further analysis established that more than 140 posts and profiles involved AI-generated or AI-assisted content, which was scientifically detected and validated using Maharashtra Cyber’s state-of-the-art audio-video forensic analysis tools,' the statement said.
The police have been monitoring social media through dedicated mechanisms involving large-scale Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), metadata examination, behavioural analysis, and forensic examination of AI-generated and deepfake content.
'During the course of this monitoring exercise, we identified a coordinated network of social media accounts disseminating false, misleading and AI-generated content with the apparent objective of manipulating public perception, creating confusion, provoking unrest and disturbing public order,' the press release read.
