Digital India Bill against Deepfake

A Deepfake video of Home Minister Amit Shah, former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt has gone viral.

Modi government is going to introduce the Digital India Bill to ban deepfake videos and content generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). According to the India Today report, this bill will discuss better use and methods of AI technology. According to sources, the government will also try to get the support of opposition parties for this bill.

In the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha starting from June 24, the first thing that will happen is the swearing-in of new MPs and the President’s address. In this session, the government will also present the full budget. According to sources, apart from the budget, the Digital India Bill can also be debated in the session. This bill may also have a provision to regulate the videos released on social media.

PM Modi had talked about the danger of deepfake videos in an interview given to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on March 28. Modi had said that AI is a good thing, but if given to someone without proper training, it is likely to be misused.

Modi said that in a democratic country like India, anyone can use deepfake. Therefore, there should be a watermark on AI-generated content. So that people know that it is AI-generated. No one will be misled by this.

During the elections, a deepfake video of Amit Shah went viral on April 27. Shah held a press conference in Guwahati, Assam and explained the difference between the fake and original video.

The government fixed rules in January to stop deepfakes. To stop deepfake, the central IT ministry prepared new rules in January itself before the elections. According to this, if a social media platform violates the new rules, it will have to stop its business in India.

 The IIT Ministry said they held two meetings with the social media platforms and other stakeholders on January 17. They decided that the social media platforms would use AI to filter deepfake content. Authorities will register cases against those who upload deepfake content under the section of the IPC and the IT Act.

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Last year, the then Minister of State for IT, Rajiv Chandrashekhar had said that the government is preparing to bring a bill to regulate fake videos and social media videos. He had said at the Financial Express Digifund and Safety Summit that this bill needs a long discussion and debate, which may take time. It does not seem possible to bring it to the table of Parliament before the elections.

The new rules will be like this: The platform where the fake content is uploaded will also be held responsible. 

• Anyone can file an FIR as soon as deep fake content is found. The victim and the person appointed on his behalf will also have the right to register a case. 

• The social media platform will take an oath from the users that they will not upload deep fake content. The platform will send alert messages to its users in this regard. The user will be able to access the account only after consent. 

• Deep fake content will have to be removed within 24 hours. The account of the user who uploaded the content will have to be closed and information on the other platform will have to be given so that the accused cannot create an account there.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/digital-india-bill-narendra-modi-governmnet-deep-fake-videos