‘Deepfakes damaging, to be dealt with by platforms’

Deepfakes, or content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) that morphs a real image or video into a realistic yet misleading form, are a “dangerous and damaging form of misinformation, and need to be dealt with by platforms,” said union minister of state for information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar.

The minister’s post, on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), came on the back of a deepfake video of actor Rashmika Mandanna that went viral on the platform.

The post morphed Mandanna’s face on a video of a different individual, and was circulated across multiple platforms.

“PM Narendra Modi’s government is committed to ensuring (the) safety and trust of all ‘Digital Nagriks’ using the Internet.

Under the IT rules notified in April 2023, it is a legal obligation for platforms to ensure no misinformation is posted by any user, and ensure that when reported by any user or government, misinformation is removed in 36 hours. If platforms do not comply with this, Rule 7 will apply, and platforms can be taken to court by aggrieved persons under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code. Deepfakes are (the) latest, and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation, and need to be dealt with by platforms,” Chandrasekhar’s post said.

In a post earlier on Monday, Mandanna said deepfakes need to be dealt “with urgency, before more of us are affected by such identity theft.”

An increasing number of individuals have raised concerns around how deepfakes, which involve the use of AI to replicate individuals in situations that are misleading.

The advent of generative AI has further raised fears around the use of tools to synthesize misleading content, thereby giving rise to misinformation—and highlighted the need to regulate the technology.

The Centre, on its part, has spoken about its intent to regulate AI from the lens of harm, in order to control and penalize the impact of deepfakes on public platforms. In previous instances, Chandrasekhar said that the upcoming Digital India Act will seek to regulate AI from the lens of harm. The UK AI Safety Summit, organized on 1 November, saw 28 nations join the first global regulatory framework, called the Bletchley Declaration—which also seeks to regulate the technology from harm’s point of view.