Govt's advisory to social media portals on IT rules over deepfake concerns

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The government has issued an advisory to all platforms to comply with IT rules amid growing concerns around deepfakes and misinformation powered by AI, according to an official release.

The advisory mandates that intermediaries (digital and social media platforms) communicate prohibited content specified under IT Rules clearly and precisely to users.

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has issued an advisory to all intermediaries, ensuring compliance with the existing IT rules," it said.

The directive specifically targets growing concerns around misinformation powered by AI-Deepfakes.

This advisory is the culmination of discussions held by Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar with intermediaries.

"The content not permitted under the IT Rules, in particular those listed under Rule 3(1)(b) must be clearly communicated to the users in clear and precise language including through its terms of service and user agreements and the same must be expressly informed to the user at the time of first-registration and also as regular reminders, in particular, at every instance of login and while uploading/sharing information onto the platform," according to the advisory.

The advisory emphasises that digital intermediaries must ensure users are informed about penal provisions, including those in the IPC and the IT Act 2000.

In addition, the advisory says that terms of service and user agreements must clearly highlight that intermediaries/platforms are under obligation to report legal violations to the law enforcement agencies under the relevant Indian laws applicable to the context.

"Rule 3(1)(b) within the due diligence section of the IT rules mandates intermediaries to communicate their rules, regulations, privacy policy, and user agreement in the user's preferred language," it said.

Platforms are obliged to ensure reasonable efforts to prevent users from hosting, displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, transmitting, storing, updating, or sharing any information related to the 11 listed user harms or content prohibited on digital intermediaries.

Deepfakes refer to synthetic or doctored media that is digitally manipulated and altered to convincingly misrepresent or impersonate someone, using a form of artificial intelligence.

Recently, several 'deepfake' videos targeting leading actors went viral, sparking public outrage and raising concerns over the misuse of technology and tools for creating doctored content and fake narratives.