On Deepfake issue, Centre gives 7 days to social media platforms to comply with IT rules

Details awaitedThe government will assign a special officer to look into deepfake videos on online platforms and also to help citizens in filing cases against it, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday.

Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced on Friday that the government will designate a special officer to investigate the deepfake issue on internet platforms and to help individuals file First Information Reports (FIRs) as and when they discover fake content online.

This follows a spike in deepfake videos on the internet, a technical phenomena that makes it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction. Over the last month, a number of deepfake films featuring Bollywood actresses, such as Rashmika Mandanna, Katrina Kaif, and Kajol, have gone viral on the internet, raising alarming questions.

"From today onwards, MeitY and the Government of India will nominate a Rule Seven officer and will take a 100% compliance expectation from all the platforms..," Chandrasekhar said on deepfake issue on Friday.

The FIR will be registered against the intermediary and if they disclose the details from where the content has originated then the case will be filed against the entity that has posted the content, the minister said.

He said that social media platforms have been given seven days time to align their terms of use as per the IT rules. "From today onwards, there is zero tolerance for violation of IT rules," Chandrasekhar said.

A meeting was held on Friday with all of the important players on the Internet, the Internet intermediaries to raise the issue of deepfakes.

Earlier, Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said the central government has summoned online platforms including Google, Facebook, YouTube on November 24 to warn them that severe action will be taken against them if they do not remove deepfakes from their sites.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also flagged the misuse of AI or artificial intelligence for creating deepfake videos and called it a "big concern." The Centre has said that the creation and circulation of deepfakes carry a strong penalty Rs 1 lakh in fine and three years in jail.  The videos have sparked massive worry about fake videos targeting public figures and the power of AI to create deepfakes that can mislead the world.