Deepfake videos: Government may temporarily block apps, sites that consistently break rules

Social media platforms were forewarned by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on November 24 that recurrent breaches of the nation’s laws, particularly with regard to deepfakes and other forbidden content, could result in the platform’s temporary ban from India.

As per further information, these are just a few of the important issues that were raised at MeitY’s November 24 meeting with social media companies. Participants in the meeting, which was facilitated by State Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, included representatives from Koo, Samsung, Apple, Reliance Jio, Meta, Google, Snap, Sharechat, and Telegram.

If the government has particular concerns about national security, public order, or other grounds specified in the IT Act, it may issue orders under Section 69A of the Act to block public access to information.

The government provided a presentation deck to social media platforms during the meeting, elucidating how Rule 3 (1) (b) (v) of the IT Rules applies to deepfakes.

False information about the Central government, as well as impersonation and the dissemination of false information, are prohibited by the rule.

According to the government, this rule applies to content generated by AI, including deepfakes. This occurred the day after Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister of Electronics and IT, announced that the government would start developing a new law specifically intended to combat deepfakes.

Shreyas Vange