Centre to penalise creators, platforms hosting deepfakes: IT Minister

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Nov 23, 2023: IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said that the Centre will soon bring in new legislation or make amendments to existing laws to tackle the increasing concern around deepfakes. He added that creators of deepfake videos and platforms hosting them would be penalised.

"Deepfakes have emerged as a new threat to democracy. These (can) weaken trust in society and its institutions," the IT Minister said after his meeting with various stakeholders, including social media platforms, Nasscom and other professors from the field of artificial intelligence.

Vaishnaw said that the central government would come up with actionable items on four pillars within 10 days to deal with the matter. These include detection of deepfakes, preventing the spread of such content, strengthening reporting mechanisms, and spreading awareness on the issue.

The IT Minister further said that all stakeholders present at the meeting shared similar concerns regarding deepfakes. "All social media platforms agreed to have extensive technology to detect deepfakes," he said.

Vaishnaw pointed out that deepfake advertisements or misleading adverts are a threat that Indian society is facing currently.

"The use of social media ensures that deepfakes can spread rapidly in a more significant manner without any check and go viral. This is why we need to take urgent steps to strengthen trust in society and our democracy," Ashwini Vaishnaw said during a press briefing, following the IT Ministry meeting.

He said that social media platforms, which are being used to spread deepfake videos, have started taking measures to tackle the matter and had internal discussions as well after the Centre’s notices to them.

"Users have a right to know what is natural and what is synthetic. Our focus will be on preventing harm and how to give users the option to know (the difference between real and deepfake)," the IT Minister added.

On Saturday (November 18), Vaishnaw warned social media platforms that the immunity they enjoy under the ’safe harbour’ clause in the Information and Technology Act would not apply if they fail to take measures against deepfakes. The clause states that an online platform cannot be held accountable for the content shared on it by users.

During the press briefing, Vaishnaw said that those creating deepfake videos have found ways to even crack labelling and watermarks. "Thus, there has to be something that finds a way out of it," the minister added.

The next meeting on deepfakes will be held in December, in which, Vaishnaw said follow-up actions on today’s meeting would be discussed.

Vaishnaw said that the question that remains now is whether apps which help create deepfakes should be disallowed or certain restrictions be imposed.

This development came amid a string of deepfake incidents, including Bollyood actors Rashmika Mandana, Katrina Kaif and Kajol. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also recently referred to a deepfake video of him wherein he is seen playing garba with a group of women. He later said that he had not played garba since he was young. However, PM Modi’s doppelganger Vikas Mahante, a businessman, has now clarified, saying the viral video was not deepfake but of him playing garba.

Courtesy: India Today