Govt launches crackdown against deepfake videos, will enable citizens to lodge FIR, says IT Minister

Indian Government aims to tackle deepfake videos by assisting users in reporting violations of IT rules and filing FIRs against social media platforms.

The govt will tackle deepfake videos, allowing citizens to file FIRs against social media platforms, says IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar. (AP)

The Government of India has launched a crackdown on an increasingly popular artificial intelligence (AI) technology known as deepfake videos, according to Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar. This development comes a day after Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw held a meeting with top social media companies and announced that the government will soon come up with new regulations to tackle the issues surrounding deepfake videos. 

Govt crackdown on deepfake videos

Chandrasekhar said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) will create a platform through which citizens can notify if social media platforms are in violation of the IT rule. The government will also assist them in filing FIR against these platforms if they find the content in the deepfake videos objectionable.

"Meity will assist users to very easily notify it about violation of IT rules and assist them in filing FIRs," the minister said.

He was speaking to the media after a meeting with social media platforms. "From today onwards there is zero tolerance for violation of IT rules," Chandrasekhar said.

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

“Today we had a very long meeting with all the players in on the internet, the intermediaries, that's how we refer them and we have raised the issue of deepfakes with them as you are aware. The Prime Minister has raised the issue that deepfakes are deeply disruptive, they can create divisions and all kinds of disruptions in communities and families. Deepfakes are very clear and present danger to the safe and trusted internet that is our goal and our policy”.

He said that social media platforms have been given seven days time to align their terms of use, as per the IT rules.

On Thursday, Electronics & Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw met social platforms to tackle the issues surrounding deepfake videos. “We will start drafting regulation today itself, and within a short time we will have a new set of regulations for deepfakes ... this could be in the form of amending existing framework or bringing new rules, or new law,” the Minister told the reports.

Just a few days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the problem of deepfake videos, highlighting a viral video that recently surfaced showing the PM's doppelganger performing Garba. While addressing the issue, the PM said that the media must educate people about this crisis.

(With inputs from PTI)