The Centre will issue draft rules to tackle deepfake videos and images in
10 days and proposes to handle the menace with penalties on creators and
platforms, said Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday.
“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,” stated Vaishnaw.
“Today we had discussion with companies which are leaders in AI
(artificial intelligence) tools, Nasscom, academicians who are well known in
this space and we all agreed that within the next 10 days we will come up with
clear actionable items on four pillars in a very structured way,” he added.
The Central Government is mulling penalising persons, who upload or
create deepfakes and platforms that host such content.
Vaishnaw said the immediate “four pillars” of focus will be detecting
deepfakes and misinformation; preventing their spread, strengthening reporting
mechanisms, and creating awareness.
“All companies and all the platforms and the industry shared our concern.
They understood that this is not free speech, and this is something which is
harmful for society. They understand the need for a heavier regulation for
this. We will start drafting the regulation today itself.”
Recently, deepfake videos have surfaced on social media of celebrities
and politicians.
Vaishnaw said technology can detect deepfakes, but miscreants have found
a way around watermarking and labelling of videos and images. The new
regulations will be applicable on all deepfake videos shown in India.
Agency
