New Delhi: The Centre has directed all social media platforms to take down deepfakes — deceptive content created by artificial intelligence — within 36 hours.
The advisory from the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) was sent to Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, days after a video went viral in which actress Rashmika Mandanna’s face was superimposed on that of British-Indian social media personality Zara Patel, seen entering a lift in a revealing onesie.
The advisory highlighted existing legal provisions that platforms must follow as online intermediaries. The government invoked Section 66 D of Information Technology Act, 2000 and Rule 3(1) (b) of the IT Rules and reminded platforms that they were obliged to remove such content within stipulated timeframes, as mentioned under these regulations.
Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Tuesday, “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.”
“Deepfakes are a major violation and harm women in particular. Our Government takes the responsibility of safety & trust of all nagriks (sic) very very seriously, and more so about our children and women who are targeted by such content,” he added in a statement.
The minister strongly encouraged all those impacted by deepfakes to file a first information report in the nearest police station.
On Monday, Rashmika Mandanna wrote a lengthy note on the microblogging site X, saying she was “really hurt” to see the video. “Today as a woman and as an actor, I am thankful for my family, friends and well wishers who are my protection and support system.
“But if this happened to me when I was in school or college, I genuinely can’t imagine how could I ever tackle this. We need to address this as a community and with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity,” the Pushpa actress wrote.
Zara Patel also condemned the deepfake video, saying she had “no involvement” with the clip. “I am deeply disturbed and upset by what is happening… Please take a step back and fact-check what you see on the internet. Not everything on the internet is real,” she said.
As soon as the video went viral over the weekend, Mandanna’s Goodbye co-star Amitabh Bachchan was the first to react, emphasising the need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfakes in India.
Also read: Naga Chaitanya, Chinmayi Sripaada call for action in Rashmika’s viral video case