Rana Ayyub deepfake porn attack, doxxing

Rana Ayyub is a well-known Indian female Muslim investigative journalist, writer, and author who made her reputation penning Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up, an undercover expose of the 2002 Gujarat religious riots.

In April 2018, Ayyub was subjected to a vicious ad hominem attack that included a 2 minute graphic pornographic video with her face morphed onto it that was circulated online by India's Hindhu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and which prompted a whirlwind of harassment, abuse, and death threats.

To make matters worse, her telephone number was revealed the following day in a tweet showing a screenshot of the video, resulting in thousands of unpleasant and intimidating calls. Ayyub ended up in hospital with heart palpitations and anxiety.

When she recovered, Ayyub submitted a criminal complaint with Delhi police, who initially refused to file it and made no further contact with her for six months. The case was closed in August 2020.