The Indian government issued an advisory on Tuesday to all social media platforms operating in the country, addressing the growing concerns around the negative impact of deepfakes. These concerns increased following a viral manipulated video featuring actress Rashmika Mandanna, prompting Delhi police to arrest four individuals in connection with the incident.
The main purpose of the advisory is to ensure strict compliance with the existing Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and to actively fight the spread of misinformation propagated by artificial intelligence.
These IT Rules, which were first notified in October 2022 and then amended in April, already outline 11 categories of banned content that platforms operating in India must remove. However, this new advisory emphasizes the specific threat posed by deepfakes and calls on platforms to prioritize their detection and deletion.
Despite IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announcing plans in November to create regulations specifically aimed at deepfakes, no solid draft has emerged. Meanwhile, the government said that amendments to the IT Rules will be applied “if and when required,” although the complete advisory sent to the platforms has not been shared by the IT Ministry.
The advisory came from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expressed concerns about the dangers of deepfakes in November. It stressed that intermediaries, including social media and digital platforms, are required to transparently communicate content prohibited under the IT Rules to its users. This includes, but is not limited to, content related to national security, public order, terrorism, obscenity, hate speech, and content involving impersonation via deepfakes.
The advisory orders platforms to make “reasonable efforts” to prevent the uploading, sharing, and distribution of harmful content. This necessitates the development of effective technological solutions for detecting and removing deepfakes, setting up robust grievance redressal mechanisms, and actively cooperating with law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute misuse of this technology.
Growing concerns about potential misuse of deepfakes to spread misinformation, incite violence, manipulate public opinion, and tarnish reputations have driven the government’s proactive stance on this matter. Sophisticated deepfake videos have been used to impersonate celebrities, politicians, and public figures, often harboring malicious intent.