Minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar informed social media companies on Thursday that the government will establish regulations on deepfakes by notifying amendments to the IT Rules in the next seven to ten days. He cited the companies’ alleged inaction on such content, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.
The meeting, attended by representatives from Meta, Google/YouTube, ShareChat, Snap and Jio, along with officials from multiple ministries and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), was called to discuss deepfakes, a problem the administration has lately become sensitive about, especially since the Prime Minister brought it up in November.
When asked whether there will be any public consultation prior to the notification, Chandrasekhar cited three meetings between the ministry and the industry between late November and early December, two advisories, and two letters sent by the government to improve action on such content, according to a person aware of the discussions who asked not to be named.
The three primary deepfake-related changes under consideration by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) were covered by HT on January 6. Proposed changes to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 include defining deepfakes, broadening the meaning of a “grievance,” and requiring all intermediaries to notify users in a clear and concise manner of content that is prohibited under rule 3(1)(b) every 15 days.
Furthermore, HT has discovered that Chandrasekhar is in favor of including a definition of “misinformation” in the IT Rules.
The NCPCR’s chairperson, Priyank Kanoongo, was present at the meeting. She had also called a separate meeting with YouTube’s head of government affairs and public policy in India, Mira Chatt, regarding popular online challenges that feature “potentially indecent acts involving mothers and sons.”
Kanoongo advised the social media businesses during the Friday conference to encourage kid-friendly, good material that doesn’t divert users. According to the aforementioned source, he instructed the corporations not to direct NCPCR to run advertisements to draw attention to these damages because NCPCR lacks funding.
Several representatives from Meity, NCPCR, and the ministry of women and child development attended the meeting.
When the topic of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on social media platforms came up, Chandrasekhar stated that the ministry is thinking of adding a “bystander clause” to the IT Rules, which would require these online businesses to assist users in reporting unlawful materials.
According to a ShareChat spokesperson, this was not commercially possible because it would require the allocation of time, resources, and money.
Chandrasekhar was informed by a YouTube representative that the video-sharing website was already compliant and was in the process of reporting CSAM to the appropriate authorities. According to Chandrasekhar, the actions were insufficient, and they would also need to file FIRs. According to Kanoongo, there was a POCSO clause that addressed the same thing, but HT was unable to identify it.
Requests for comments were not answered by representatives of YouTube or Meta until it was time to go to press.
The junior minister of IT has previously discussed proposals in which the government would assist impacted consumers in bringing police complaints. “A Rule 7 officer has been nominated and the process to invoke Rule 7 will be done whenever platforms are non-compliant with the rules,” Chandrasekhar told reporters following the meeting on November 24. And that will become available for those who feel wronged by this to file FIRs, and Meity will help by providing a platform that makes it simple for users to alert Meity to Rule 3(1)(b) infractions. Meity would create a system to facilitate the filing of FIRs efficiently,” he declared.
Following the initial discussion on the matter on November 23, Union Information Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw declared that, although the specifics of the rule were still to be finalized, the government would introduce a new law to address deepfakes and synthetic content on the internet.
A day later, Chandrasekhar informed the intermediaries that although the government does not want to rule out the prospect of enacting new regulations should the need arise, the current rules are sufficient to address the problem of deepfakes.
