Govt sends advisory to social media firms, asks them to take motion on deepfake content material

The federal government has despatched an advisory to all social media and web intermediaries asking them to take strict motion on any deep-fake content material in keeping with the provisions beneath the Info Know-how (IT) Act of 2000 and the IT Guidelines of 2021, sources mentioned.

In its advisory despatched on Tuesday, the ministry of electronics and data know-how has cited Part 66D of the IT Act in addition to Guidelines 3(1)(b)(vii) and Rule 3(2)(b) of the IT Guidelines, and requested the intermediaries to take rapid motion in opposition to such deep-fake images, movies or some other such content material.

“Each the IT Act and IT Guidelines have clear directions which place the onus on social media intermediaries to make sure such deep-fake movies or images are taken down as quickly as doable. In case of failure, there are provisions for imprisonment of as much as Three years of effective of Rs 1 lakh,” a senior authorities official mentioned.
Whereas 3(1)(b)(vii) of the IT Guidelines mandates that social media intermediaries should be sure that the consumer of their platform don’t host any content material which impersonates one other individual, Rule 3(2)(b) requires such content material to be taken down inside 24 hours of receipt of a grievance in opposition to such content material.

The IT ministry’s advisory comes a day after a deep-fake video of actress Rashmika Mandanna went viral on social media platform X (previously Twitter). The video, initially created by a UK-based Indian-origin social media influencer, had been morphed to indicate Mandanna coming into an elevator.

The deep-fake video drew sharp responses from a number of Bollywood actors who mentioned that such creations had been a matter of grave concern. The minister of state for electronics and data know-how Rajeev Chandrasekhar additionally warned that social media intermediaries should take down such content material promptly or face strict motion.

“Below the IT guidelines notified in April 2023 – it’s a authorized obligation for platforms to make sure no misinformation is posted by any consumer and be sure that when reported by any consumer or govt, misinformation is eliminated in 36 hrs,” Chandrasekhar had mentioned in a put up on X. If platforms fail to adjust to the provisions of the IT Guidelines, Rule 7 may very well be invoked, and the aggrieved individual may take the middleman to the courtroom beneath related sections of the Indian Penal Code.

“Deep fakes are newest and much more harmful and damaging type of misinformation and must be handled by platforms,” Chandrasekhar had mentioned.

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