India's Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar has issued a warning to social media companies, asking them to take responsibility for deepfake content on their platforms, while stressing the importance of clear, transparent regulations regarding artificial intelligence (AI).
Indian Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Photo: FT
The request comes as India prepares for the 2024 general election to control misinformation in general and fake deepfakes in particular to minimize any interference of AI in the election results.
“We are clearly deeply concerned about the impact of misinformation, fake news across borders that is causing problems for our democracy,” Minister Chandrasekhar said in an interview with the Financial Times.
“We warned about this earlier than most countries because it impacts us more negatively than smaller countries,” he added.
Mr Chandrasekhar stressed that India had been alert to the dangers posed by deepfakes earlier than most countries, acknowledging the significant impact of disinformation on the country.
The warning comes as tech companies provide services to one of the world's largest internet users, with India having 870 million internet users and 600 million social media users.
Since the advent of advanced AI tools, researchers and countries around the world have expressed concerns about the growing threat of deepfakes, a technology that uses artificial intelligence to create convincing fake images, videos and audio.
Earlier on December 26, 2023, New Delhi had called on various messaging and social media platforms operating in India (such as YouTube, X, WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, and local social network Koo) to comply with Indian laws regarding illegal content and clarify their compliance with terms of service and user agreements.
Furthermore, India's IT Rules 2021 prohibit content deemed harmful to children, posing a threat to national security, spreading misinformation, and imposing other restrictions on freedom of expression.
Ngoc Anh (according to FT, Firstpost)
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