IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw declared deepfakes a newfound threat to democracy and announced the government’s intention to formulate new regulations to counteract them. Following discussions with social media platforms on the deepfake issue, Vaishnaw stated that companies have recognized the necessity for clear, actionable measures in areas such as detection, prevention, fortification of reporting mechanisms, and enhancing user awareness.
“We will commence drafting the regulation today itself, and in a short period, we will unveil a new set of regulations for deepfakes… This could take the form of amending the existing framework, introducing new rules, or even a new law,” Vaishnaw informed reporters.
He further outlined plans for a follow-up meeting in the first week of December to address subsequent actions based on the decisions made during the current meeting and to discuss elements to be incorporated into the draft regulation.
Deepfakes, involving digitally manipulated and synthetically altered media using artificial intelligence to convincingly misrepresent or impersonate individuals, have raised concerns. Numerous ‘deepfake’ videos targeting prominent figures, such as actors Shahrukh Khan, Virat Kohli, and Akshay Kumar, have circulated on social media, causing public outrage and prompting worries about technology misuse to create false narratives.
Incidents include deepfake videos featuring Shah Rukh Khan for a game named Aviator and Virat Kohli in a video promoting a betting game. Recently, a controversy arose over a video of actor Rashmika Mandanna entering an elevator, where the original video featured a British Indian individual, and Mandanna’s face was morphed into the footage.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued advisories to social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, instructing them to remove deepfakes. The advisory referred to Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, which stipulates penalties for cheating by personation using computer resources, with imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.
