Legal obligations on social media platforms to act on deep fakes: Govt

The Government is cognizant of the need to create guardrails to ensure that AI is safe and trusted. Accordingly, the Central Government after extensive public consultations with relevant stakeholders notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021) on February 25, 2021, which were subsequently amended on October 28, 2022 and April 6, 2023.

The IT Rules, 2021 cast specific legal obligations on intermediaries, including social media intermediaries and platforms, to ensure their accountability towards safe and trusted internet, including their expeditious action towards removal of the prohibited misinformation, patently false information and deep fakes.

In case of failure of the intermediaries to observe the legal obligations as provided in the IT Rules, 2021, they lose their safe harbour protection under section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) and shall be liable for consequential action or prosecution as provided under any extant law.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 has also been enacted on August 11, 2023, which casts obligations on Data Fiduciaries to safeguard digital personal data, holding them accountable, while also ensuring the rights and duties of Data Principals.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha yesterday (July 24, 2024).