Remove Deepfakes Within 36 Hours: Centre Tells Social Media Firms Following Rashmika's Controversy

In the wake of Rashmika Mandanna's deepfake video controversy, the Centre on Tuesday issued an advisory to major social media companies to identify misinformation, deepfakes and other content that violates rules and remove those within 36 hours after being reported to them.

"The Centre today issued an advisory to the significant social media intermediaries 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," the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) said in a statement.

The advisory directed social media companies to take action against content that breaches the rules and regulations outlined in the IT Rules 2021, ensuring adherence within specified timeframes. Also, users are cautioned against sharing or hosting such infringing information, content, or deepfakes.

"Remove any such content when reported within 36 hours of such reporting and ensure expeditious action, well within the timeframes stipulated under the IT Rules 2021, and disable access to the content or information," the statement said.

In case of impersonation in an electronic form, including artificially morphed images of an individual, social media companies have been advised to take action within 24 hours from the receipt of a complaint in relation to any content.

"The intermediaries were reminded that any failure to act as per the relevant provisions of the IT Act and Rules would attract Rule 7 of the IT Rules, 2021 and could render the organisation liable to losing the protection available under Section 79(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000," the statement said.

Over instances of impersonation in electronic content, which may involve artificially altered images of an individual, social media companies have been instructed to act within 24 hours upon receiving a complaint related to such content.

"The intermediaries were reminded that any failure to act as per the relevant provisions of the IT Act and Rules would attract Rule 7 of the IT Rules, 2021 and could render the organisation liable to losing the protection available under Section 79(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000," the statement said.

Minister of Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar in the statement said that deepfakes are a major violation and harm women in particular.

"Safety and trust of our Digital Nagriks is our unwavering commitment and top priority for the Narendra Modi Government.

"Given the significant challenges posed by misinformation and deepfakes, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has issued a second advisory within the last six months, calling upon online platforms to take decisive actions against the spread of deepfakes," Chandrasekhar said.

He said that the government takes the responsibility of safety and trust of all citizens very seriously, and more so about our children and women who are targeted by such content.

"It is a legal obligation for online platforms to prevent the spread of misinformation by any user under the Information Technology (IT) rules, 2021.

"They are further mandated to remove such content within 36 hours upon receiving a report from either a user or government authority. Failure to comply with this requirement invokes Rule 7, which empowers aggrieved individuals to take platforms to court under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," the minister said.

A "deepfake" video is a manipulated clip in which a person's face or body features are digitally altered to resemble someone else. Such content is frequently used to disseminate false information or deceive the audience about a well-known individual.

However, Bollywood's Mega Star Bachchan was the first person to respond to the issue as he shared a fact checker's deepfake clip alongside the original video of British-Indian social media personality Zara Patel, highlighting the urgent requirement for a legal and regulatory framework to address deepfakes in India.

Commenting on the post, Bachchan emphasized, "Yes this is a strong case for legal". Mandanna also expressed her concern through Instagram, saying she was "really hurt" to see the video, which shows a woman dressed in black workout onesie inside an elevator. Her face has been edited using artificial intelligence (AI) to resemble Mandanna.

Deepfake is a digital method where users can replace one person's likeness convincingly with that of another using AI technology. However, this technology can be misused to create controversial clips, like in the case of Rashmika.