Deepfake row: MeitY sets 7-day deadline for social media platforms to regulate deepfakes, says Rajeev Chandrashekhar

Deepfakes in India: Amid the rising concerns regarding deepfakes in India, MoS Rajeev Chandrashekhar has said that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has given social media companies a seven-day deadline to comply with the section of the IT rules that forbid sharing of deepfakes in the country. “Platforms have agreed that within the next 7 days, they will ensure that all terms and contracts with users expressly forbid them from engaging in the 11 types of content laid out in the IT rules,” he said today.

Apart from this, the MoS also said that MeitY will appoint a ‘Rule 7 Officer’ who will setup a digital platform wherein digital nagriks will be able to file their complaints and report violations easily. “MeitY has confirmed the imminent appointment of a “Rule 7 officer” and a digital platform for users to report violations of the law by intermediaries. This is in line with Rule 7, triggering the initiation of FIRs and the legal process in court,” the minister added.

At the #DigitalIndiaDialogues with industry stakeholders today, I reinforced that Indian #DigitalNagriks have the right to a safe and trusted internet, and intermediaries are accountable to users for providing the same.

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iPhone 15 gets special appreciation from Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Discussions resulted in decisive steps:

✅ All platforms… pic.twitter.com/J7kMXzqmXd

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) November 24, 2023

Furthermore, the minister said that today he had a long meeting will all the important players in the Indian internet space wherein all the intermediateries agreed that the existing IT rules have ample provisions to deal with deepfakes.

“I have urged them today and have said that we will follow it up with an advisory and a directive that all platforms must align their and transform their terms of use with their users to be consistent with the twelve areas that are prohibited on the Indian Internet and the platforms have agreed in seven days to ensure that harmonization and that alignment so that every user on every platform is aware that when they use a platform, the platform intends to be a safe and trusted platform…,” the MoS added.

#WATCH | On Deep fake issue, MoS Electronics & Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar says, “Today we had a very longish meeting with all of the important players on the Internet, the Internet intermediaries. And we have raised the issue of Deep Fakes with them… I reminded them that… pic.twitter.com/m8UHlVwXRI

— ANI (@ANI) November 24, 2023

It is worth noting that Chandrashekhar’s statement comes just a day after IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the government is drafting new rules to regulate deepfakes. “We plan to complete drafting the regulations within the next few weeks,” he said earlier this week.