Ashwini Vaishnaw on Deepfake menace: Govt considering penalties on both creators and platforms

In a significant move to combat the growing threat of deepfakes, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has disclosed plans to draft new regulations or amend existing laws in order to address this issue. The announcement was made by the Minister of MeitY, Ashwini Vaishnaw, who highlighted the urgent need to strengthen trust in society and democracy. The minister confirmed that even deepfakes created anywhere outside India, but are used in the country, will also fall under these regulations, including imposing a penalty.  The drafted regulation will consider penalties for both the person who has uploaded or created the deepfake and the platform.

Deepfakes, which are hyper-realistic fake videos or audio, have emerged as a new threat, especially after recent deepfake videos of popular Bollywood actresses went viral. According to the ministry, the widespread use of social media has exacerbated the problem, allowing deepfakes to spread rapidly and go viral without any checks.

Meeting with Experts and Social Media Companies

The Minister held a meeting with representatives from all companies, NASSCOM, and professors from the field of AI. The discussion was focused on four pillars: detection of deepfakes, prevention of their spread, strengthening reporting mechanisms, and generating awareness. The Minister stated that actionable items on these four pillars would be developed within 10 days.

The meeting was attended by social media platforms, companies whose tools are used for AI, NASSCOM, and professors in AI. The attendees shared the Minister's concern and understood the need for heavier regulation. It was agreed that the regulation would start being drafted immediately.

Responsibility of both creator and host platform

The Minister emphasized that accountability would be placed on both the user/creator and the host platform. Despite many finding ways to crack labelling and watermarking, the Minister stressed the need for a solution that could effectively address this issue. 

The Minister also mentioned that extensive technologies for the detection of deepfakes are available, and professors in the field have confirmed their existence. However, he acknowledged the ongoing "cat and mouse game" with people making deepfakes even more elusive.

The next meeting is scheduled for the first week of December, where follow-up actions from the current meeting will be discussed. Until then, social media platforms and companies have committed to taking steps that can be taken within their own internal guidelines.

Work on Deepfake regulations to start immediately

The Minister concluded by stating that work on the regulations would start immediately and that changes would either be made in existing laws or a new law would be introduced. He also noted that social media platforms are taking the matter seriously and have started taking steps after the advisory was issued. This issue is not only confined to India, indicating the global nature of the problem.