Indian powerlifter Keyaa Banerji, who recently caught the headlines among many others after her silver medal win at the IPF World Sub-Junior and Junior Classic Powerlifting Championships, has once again managed to capture the limelight. However, the limelight this time around has not been a positive one.
It is worth noting that Banerji took to her Instagram story and talked about how the spotlight has exposed her to the darker side of social media. In her story, Keyaa talked about how people have been sharing disturbing AI images of her and how deeply scarring the experience has been for her.
"I recently won a deadlift silver medal at IPF Jr Worlds for India and while I appreciate the support and recognition, as an Indian female athlete I've also had to deal with sexual harassment online, accounts impersonating me, disturbing conversations surrounding my ethnicity, ancestry and caste, and the Worst - thousands of AI generated images of me with pictures of my body and face morphed and edited in very disturbing ways - it's quite unnerving to be waking up everyday to my feed (and the feeds of every single person I know) flooded with these fake AI pictures," Keyaa Banerji wrote on Instagram.
Keyaa Banerji went viral for her performance at the Junior Classic Powerlifting Championships
It is interesting to note Keyaa Banerji went viral after she made the country proud after she deadlifted more than three times her bodyweight. Her brilliant lift at the event saw her clinch the silver medal as well.
In her story, she was quick to explain that she has never been one to share many pictures online and likes to keep her private life away from the public eye, and the sudden rise in attention and the online harassment has unsettled her after AI pictures of her went viral.
“I've always been a private person, and if you've known me in any capacity / followed my old account, you'd know I never posted pictures on it either! It only got more stressful when Instagram suspended my old account (a private account with 300 followers); hence, I've made this new one,” she added.
Also Read:
