Government plans tweaks in law to guard against deepfakes

NEW DELHI: Concerned over the growing threat from AI-generated synthetic content and deepfakes, govt is considering amendments to the IT law to fix greater accountability on top social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube and X against potential misinformation and proposed that AI and social media platforms clearly label AI-generated content for easier identification by the users.

Infotech minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday that govt has been getting requests to take steps against synthetic content and deepfakes to contain user misinformation.




“In Parliament as well as many other fora, people have demanded that something should be done about deepfakes, which are harming society,” he said.

Committed to ensuring open, safe, trusted and accountable Net: IT min

People are using some prominent person’s image and creating deepfakes, which are then affecting their personal lives, privacy as well as creating various misconceptions in society. The step we are taking is making sure that users get to know whether something is synthetic or real. Once users know, they can take a call. It’s important that users know what is synthetic and what is real. That distinction will be led through mandatory data labelling,” IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

In the note seeking comments by Nov 6 from stakeholders on draft rules regarding synthetic content, IT ministry says it remains committed to ensuring an open, safe, trusted and accountable internet for all users. “With the increasing availability of generative AI tools and resulting proliferation of synthetically generated information (commonly known as deepfakes), the potential for misuse of such technologies to cause user harm, spread misinformation, manipulate elections or impersonate individuals has grown significantly. Recognising these risks, and following extensive public discussions and parliamentary deliberations, IT ministry has prepared the present draft amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.”

The ministry said the draft rules aim to strengthen due diligence obligations for intermediaries, particularly social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries, as well as for platforms that enable the creation or modification of synthetically-generated content.

Through the proposed amendments, govt wants a clear definition of synthetically-generated information while mandating labelling and metadata embedding requirements for such information to ensure users can distinguish synthetic from authentic content. Also, it wants visibility and audibility standards requiring that synthetic content be prominently marked, including a minimum 10% visual or initial audio duration coverage. From the intermediaries, it wants “enhanced verification and declaration obligations”, while mandating reasonable technical measures on their part to confirm whether content is synthetically generated which should be labelled accordingly. Separately, the ministry has taken steps to ensure a proper mechanism regarding content takedown pleas to social media platforms, mandating only top-level officers for the job.

The ministry has stipulated that intimation to social media platforms for removal of ‘unlawful information’ can only be issued by senior officials and would require precise details and reasons to be specified, as it notified IT Rules amendment to streamline content takedown procedures & bring transparency, clarity and precision in actions.
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