Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said the government would make rules around deepfakes, synthetic media that mimics authentic images, video and audio, and set out rules to prevent their dissemination online. Mr. Vaishnaw met with representatives from social media and technology firms on the day on the subject, and said the companies were all of the view that action was warranted.
The action follows a furore over the subject after a deepfake of actor Rashmika Mandanna went viral on Instagram and elsewhere earlier this month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke briefly on the dangers of deepfakes at a Deepavali event. While advisories to social media firms have been sent warning them that the law already prevents impersonation online, the IT Ministry is saying that it will now move swiftly to address the issue more comprehensively.
“Within 10 days, we will come up with clear actionable items on four pillars,” Mr. Vaishnaw said. They are: improving the detection of deepfakes; preventing them from spreading rapidly; improving content reporting mechanisms on social media for synthetic media (timelines currently prescribe a 72-hour limit for removing them, beyond which firms lose legal protections for such content); and building greater awareness on deepfakes among the public.
