The government would ensure that platforms make sufficient steps for preventing, avoiding, and cleaning up their platforms, according to Union IT Minister(MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw.
MeitY will contact social media companies to talk about deepfakes:
IT Minister(MeitY) Ashwini Vaishnaw stated on Saturday that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) plans to contact social media companies in the next days to discuss strategies for combating deepfakes.
“Every platform received our notices, and every website replied. Although they are moving forward on their own, we believe that much more work has to be done. We will be holding a meeting with all of the platforms very shortly. We may give them a call in the next three to four days.
We’ll brainstorm about it and make sure platforms take the necessary steps to prevent, avoid, and clean up their platforms,” he stated.
The IT ministry(MeitY) reminded all social media platforms of their legal obligation to filter out misinformation and deepfakes, as per HT’s earlier report, following the viral fake video of Telugu actor Rashmika Mandanna that raised concerns about the misuse of AI and its potential to encourage gender violence online.
“What’s most crucial is that the platforms’ immunity—the widely recognized safe harbor provision—won’t apply if they don’t put in enough effort [to control deepfakes],” Vaishnaw stated.
It is true that only courts have the authority to decide whether an intermediary can be held accountable for content created by third parties even after losing its safe harbor status.
In response to a query concerning the platforms’ technological capability to identify and remove deepfakes, Vaishnaw stated, “I believe they should be able to do it.”
The IT ministry(MeitY) also requested social media platforms to “put in place appropriate technology and processes for identifying information that may violate the provisions of rules and regulations or user agreement” in the deepfake advisory from February, which was reiterated in the two letters.
The risks associated with deepfake technology have been brought to light by G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in just the past week.
During a “Diwali Milan” event on Friday at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Delhi, Modi spoke to a group of media people and stated, “A new crisis is arising as a result of artificial intelligence-produced deepfakes.” Many people don’t have a backup verification system in place. We could be in serious danger from this [deepfake], which also has the ability to fan the flames of discontent.
Modi stated, “We should use our programs to educate people about deepfake, what it is, how big of a crisis it can cause, and what its impact can be.” He said that deepfakes had to be accompanied by disclosures, much way cigarettes are.