Days after Meta officials were summoned by the Indian government over their alleged failure to tackle child sexual abuse material (CSAM), AI-generated deepfakes, and the removal of a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Facebook, the government on Thursday reiterated that it has amended the IT Rules to address harms arising from synthetically generated information (SGI), including deepfakes and AI-generated content.
The amended Information Technology Act rules make it mandatory for intermediaries, including social media platforms(with 5 million or above users), to comply with these obligations or risk losing their exemption from legal immunity.
As per the newly introduced amendments in February this year, the intermediaries must ensure clear labelling and traceable metadata for permissible AI-generated content, mandatory user awareness regarding legal consequences of unlawful AI-generated content, and reduced timeline of 3 hours for removal of objectionable content from social media platforms.
“In case of failure of the intermediaries to observe the legal obligations as provided in the IT Rules, they lose their exemption from third party information provided under section 79 of the IT Act. They are liable for consequential action or prosecution as provided under any extant law,” read a response from Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada in Lok Sabha on August 5, while responding to questions from opposition MP Karti Chidambaram.
Recently, two union ministers Piyush Goyal and Nitin Gadkari had approached the courts and police over use of AI generated deep fake videos to defame them. On Tuesday, META officials were summoned at the New Delhi based Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) over the platform’s alleged failure to curb the menace of circulation of CSAM content, use of AI generated deepfakes and removal of a video of Prime Minister Modi during the recent students led protest in India against exam papers leaks. According to Prasada, this new rule will also shorten time limits for addressing sensitive complaints pertaining to nudity and identity, among others.
According to current laws, provisions of several sections of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, could be invoked against the crimes associated with deep fakes.
The revised regulations impose additional obligations on prominent platforms with over 5 million users, asking that the platforms must use technology to monitor harmful AI-generated content, produce compliance reports, employ grievance officers, and work with law enforcement.
