The government will lay down rules on deepfakes by notifying amendments to the IT Rules in the next seven to 10 days, minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar told social media companies on Thursday, citing their purported lack of action on such content, a person aware of the matter
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.
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Chandrasekhar, according to a person aware of the discussions who asked not to be named, referred to three meetings held 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 when asked by a Meta representative whether there will be any public consultation before the notification.
HT reported on January 6 the three main amendments related to deepfakes that the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) was considering. These include proposed amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 that will define deepfakes, expand the definition of a “grievance”, and make it obligatory for all intermediaries to remind users of disallowed content under rule 3(1)(b) every 15 days in clear and precise language.