False slandering of the Minister of Buddhist Affairs

A recent false news story, targeting the current Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senewi, has become the best recent example of how a false piece of information can evolve in social media over time, with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI), into a highly organized campaign. A mere statement released on social media in 2024 without any evidence has, by October 2026, evolved into an award-winning book, and finally, into an artificially created book cover.

The most recent incident in this fake operation was reported on the night of October 30, 2026. Around 10:01 PM that night, an image of a black book cover, along with a photograph of the Minister of Buddhasasana, appeared on a Facebook page named "Ceylon". The post, which included the caption "The person who wrote this book is today's Minister of Buddhasasana," stated that the Minister had authored a book titled "Siduhath Athmaarthakaamiyek" (Siddhartha the Selfish). By the next day, an image of only the book cut out from the original picture began to circulate rapidly via the WhatsApp network, presented as a photograph of a real book.

However, upon investigating the truth behind these posts, it became clear that this was an entirely AI-generated visual distortion. When creating this fake book cover, neither the creators nor the technology were able to correctly align even the Sinhala letters. Although the Minister's correct name is 'Hiniduma Sunil Senewi,' as confirmed on the official Parliament website, the author on the cover is listed as "Hinidumu." Furthermore, while social media posts mentioned the book's title as "Siduhath Athmaarthakaamiyek" (Siddhartha the Selfish), what appears printed in red letters on the cover is the meaningless phrase "Athmaarthakaamiyen." When the image was examined using AI detection tools, it was confirmed with over 99% probability that it was generated using artificial intelligence.

Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senewi, who obtained his undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the Universities of Sri Jayewardenepura, Kelaniya, and Peradeniya, and served at Sabaragamuwa University for over two decades, is a renowned literary critic, screenwriter, and author in Sri Lanka. It is confirmed by the Sri Lanka National Library Union Catalogue and international book databases that he has authored several books on subjects such as the history of Colombo, Sinhala short stories and cinema, and Colombo poetry. However, neither in any official database nor on the internet can a work titled "Siduhath Athmaarthakaamiyek" (Siddhartha the Selfish) written by him be found, nor any book with such a name written by any other author. The Media Coordinator of the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs has also clearly confirmed that the Minister has never authored such a book.

The creation of this fake book cover is not an isolated incident; it is merely one stage of an organized operation built to target the Minister's religious background. Previously, false information circulated on social media claiming that he is a Catholic, not a Buddhist, and that he made various statements regarding the Diyawadana Nilame position. On October 30, the Minister also made a special statement regarding such falsehoods spread questioning his Buddhist background. On the same day, the Ministry had sent a letter to the Director-General of Government Information, requesting intervention regarding other fake posts circulating on social media against the Minister.

Posts published in November 2024 without any source, claiming "Siddhartha the Selfish," falsely evolved by October 08, 2026, into claims of "writing books for dollars from NGOs and winning awards," and finally, the attempt to present a never-printed virtual image as a real book to society, reveals a serious truth about how false information is constructed in current social media.