MeitY issues advisory to digital platforms on deepfakes

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued an advisory to all social media platforms on Tuesday. The ministry has now made it mandatory for intermediaries to communicate to users about prohibited content, especially those specified under Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules.

Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules makes it compulsory for the intermediaries to communicate rules, regulations, privacy policy, and user agreement in the user’s preferred language. It also entails efforts on the part of platforms to prevent users from hosting, publishing, storing or sharing any information or content prohibited on digital intermediaries. It aims to identify and promptly remove false and misleading content, which includes deepfakes. 

“The users must be made aware of the various penal provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) 1860, the IT Act, 2000 and such other laws that may be attracted in case of violation of Rule 3(1)(b). In addition, the terms of service and user agreements must clearly highlight that intermediaries/platforms are under obligation to report legal violations to the law enforcement agencies under the relevant Indian laws applicable to the context,” the advisory further added. 

The deliberations around the prevention of AI-powered deepfakes have been happening since a deepfake video of actress Rashmika Mandanna was widely circulated on social media. Other personalities were also targeted. IT minister of state Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that MeitY has so far conducted two Digital India Dialogue with the stakeholders of Indian Internet to alertthem about the provisions of the IT Rules (notified in October 2022, and amended in April 2023) that lays out 11 specific prohibited types of content on all social media intermediaries & platforms. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also flagged the issue of deepfakes in November, shortly after which the ministry swung into action.

To be sure, on November 23, Union Minister for IT Ashwini Vaishnaw held a meeting with key social media players. Calling it a threat to democracy, Vaishnaw told the media that the government will shortly start drafting regulations for deepfakes, which could be either in the form of amending existing frameworks or introducing new rules. He also said that social media companies have agreed on the need for detection, prevention, and strengthening of reporting mechanisms.