India seeks to regulate deepfakes amid ethical concerns – A senior lawmaker announced on Thursday that India is developing regulations to identify and stop the spread of deepfake media.
India’s IT Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, stated that the ministry met earlier in the day with academics and representatives of all major social media platforms, and they came to the conclusion that legislation was necessary to effectively stop the propagation of deepfake films.
“The companies share our concerns and they understood that it’s [deepfakes] are not free speech. They understood that it’s something that’s very harmful to the society,” he said. “They understood the need for much heavier regulation on this, so we agree that we will start drafting the regulation today itself.”
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In ten days, he claimed, the ministry will have “clear actionable items” available to tackle deepfakes. According to him, the government and the social media companies will have a follow-up meeting in early December to discuss this matter.
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Deepfakes are artificial intelligence-generated media that realistically mimic a person’s voice or likeness. Even while it can be amusing at times, permission and possible misrepresentation are major ethical issues. The action by the IT ministry comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced worries last week regarding deepfake videos.
“The deepfakes can spread significantly more rapidly without any checks and they are getting virals within minutes of their uploading. That’s why we need to take some very urgent steps to strengthen trust in the society and to protect our democracy,” Vaishnaw said at a press conference.
