Ministry sends social media firms advisory to regulate deepfakes

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Last Updated28/12/2023

The MeitY recently issued the second advisory to social media platforms urging compliance with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
This advisory specifically targets the rise of fabricated 'deepfake' content generated using Artificial Intelligence.

The advisory emphasizes the need for social media intermediaries to take stronger actions against deepfake content.
It instructs platforms to clearly and precisely communicate prohibited content, especially as outlined in Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules, to users.
The government has been actively engaging with platforms to address concerns related to misinformation and deepfake content.

Deepfakes, present since 2017, refer to manipulated videos, audios or images created using a form of artificial intelligence called deep learning.
Initially popularised through a Reddit incident, deepfake technology has evolved, enabling even unskilled individuals to produce fake content.
They are created using a technique called generative adversarial networks (GANs), which involve two competing neural networks viz. a generator and a discriminator.
- The generator tries to create fake images or videos that look realistic.
- The discriminator tries to distinguish between the real and the fake ones.
To ensure that the deepfake created is as close to real as possible, creators use a large database of source images.
‘Unsupervised learning’ makes it challenging for other software to identify deepfakes.
A 230% increase in deepfake usage by cybercriminals and scammers has been observed.

India's IT Rules 2021 mandate the removal of reported fake or deepfake content by intermediary platforms within 36 hours.
Section 66D of the Information Technology Act of 2000 deems online impersonation illegal.
The rules also prohibit hosting content impersonating others.