MeitY issues advisory to intermediaries, urges to remove fake content swiftly

In an advisory issued on September 3, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) urged all intermediaries to promptly and proactively remove fake content, following a Bombay High Court directive.

The HC required Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, and Telegram to delete all false information, including altered videos and profiles related to the National Stock Exchange (NSE), within 10 hours of receiving a complaint.

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology wishes to remind intermediaries of their duty to swiftly remove any prohibited material at the earliest opportunity. Intermediaries are advised to complete the takedown process, where necessary, as proactively as possible without waiting for the time limits set in the Rules, which serve only as an upper threshold.”

The advisory referred to the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Under the IT Act, IT Rules 2021, and the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in the Shreya Singhal case, intermediaries are required to take down "unlawful information" within 36 hours of receiving "actual knowledge," either via a court order or a notice from the "Appropriate Government".

In July this year, India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE) warned investors about deepfake videos falsely featuring its CEO, Ashishkumar Chauhan, in some investment and stock advisory videos.

Recently, the Mumbai police filed a case against the Maharashtra Youth Congress’ social media account and 16 others for allegedly sharing a deepfake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Multiple well-known personalities, including Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Elon Musk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Tom Cruise, Scarlett Johansson, and Emma Watson, have also fallen victim to deepfake videos on the internet. Similar such cases have been reported widely across the country.