Amid increase in instances of deepfake videos over social media platforms, the government is expected to meet companies such as Google, Meta, and others in the next 3-4 days, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.
Comments from Vaishnaw came after the government sent notices to these social media platforms and asked them to identify deepfakes and take down content related to that even in the absence of a formal complaint, under the provisions of Information Technology Act. The government said the safe harbour clause under the IT Act will not be applicable if platforms do not take adequate steps to remove deepfakes.
“All the plaforms have responded to the notice. They are taking their own steps but we think many more steps will have to be taken (to address deepfake issue). We have told them to be more aggressive in their work,” Vaishnaw said. “We will call them for brainstorming on that and make sure that platforms make adequate efforts for preventing it (deepfakes), and cleaning up their system,” Vaishnaw added.
On November 7, the government also warned the firms concerned that failure on their part to act under the provisions, will attract punishment under Section 66D of the IT Act, 2000, which involves punishment for cheating by personation using computer resources and imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh. The context of issuing the advisory and stressing on the provisions of law, which mandates these companies to act even in the absence of a formal complaint by the aggrieved party, was the deep fake video of actress Rashmika Mandanna which surfaced over social media platforms.
Post that, many other instances of deepfake videos involving Bollywood personalities have emerged.
The ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) has pointed out that as per intermediary rules under the IT Act, social media platforms are supposed to remove misleading content within 36 hours of receiving a report from either a user or government authority. Failure to comply with this requirement invokes Rule 7, which empowers aggrieved individuals to take platforms to court under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Currently, India does not have any specific regulatory framework for AI. The government is working on a Digital India Bill, to address the challenges posed by the emerging technologies from the prism of user harm.
Lately, in a change of approach, the government has been telling people aggrieved by the actions of intermediaries, to file an FIR, so that the courts can decide on the matter.
