Centre issues advisory to social media platforms on deepfakes, warns of legal consequences

The Centre on Tuesday issued an advisory to all social media platforms to comply with the Information Technology Rules amid “growing concerns around misinformation powered by AI-deepfakes”.

Deepfake is a technique for manipulating audio and video with the help of artificial intelligence software to depict people saying or doing things that they never said or did. The content is made to appear as realistic as possible and is usually used with malicious intent.

The advisory states: “Content not permitted under the IT Rules, in particular those listed under Rule 3(1)(b) must be clearly communicated to the users in clear and precise language including through its terms of service and user agreements.”