Indian government contemplates stricter regulations to combat deepfake threat

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is actively addressing the growing deepfake threat. During the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Moneycontrol that the Indian government is contemplating more stringent regulations to tackle the issue.

"During our conversations with leaders across the world, practically everybody shared concerns regarding deepfakes. I think going forward we will have to look at very stronger regulations,” he said.

"We really need to now move to a policy framework in which the social media platforms start taking responsibility for what they are publishing,” Vaishnaw said in the interview with Moneycontrol.

However, according to Vaishnaw, the Indian government is preparing to amend the Information Technology Rules to direct social media companies to amend their terms and conditions so that it aligns with India's policies.

In November, 2023, the ministry sent an advisory to social media companies, urging prompt action on AI-generated content. Social media intermediaries were asked to ensure that due diligence is exercised and reasonable efforts are made to identify misinformation and deepfakes, and in particular, information that violates the provisions of rules and regulations and/or user agreements.

This was also followed by a meeting with all stakeholders where the deepfake issue was addressed.