Amid growing concerns over the AI-deepfake videos, the government has issued an advisory to all social media platforms, directing them to ensure compliance with existing IT rules.
The advisory mandates that intermediaries communicate prohibited content—particularly those specified under Rule 3(1)(b) of the IT Rules—clearly and precisely to users.
“The content not permitted under the IT Rules, in particular those listed under Rule 3(1)(b) must be clearly communicated to the users in clear and precise language including through its terms of service and user agreements and the same must be expressly informed to the user at the time of first-registration and also as regular reminders, in particular, at every instance of login and while uploading/sharing information onto the platform,” it said.
The intermediaries must ensure that users are informed about penal provisions, including those in the IPC and the IT Act 2000, in case of the IT rules are violated.
“In addition, the terms of service and user agreements must clearly highlight that intermediaries/platforms are under obligation to report legal violations to the law enforcement agencies under the relevant Indian laws applicable to the context,” the advisory further stated.
In an official statement, the IT ministry noted that under Rule 3(1)(b), intermediaries should communicate their rules, regulations, privacy policy, and user agreement in the user’s preferred language. They are also obliged to ensure reasonable efforts to prevent users from hosting, displaying, uploading, modifying, publishing, transmitting, storing, updating, or sharing any information related to the 11 listed content prohibited on digital intermediaries.
“This rule aims to ensure platforms identify and promptly remove misinformation, false or misleading content, and material impersonating others, including deepfakes,” the ministry said.
It noted that the fresh advisory was issued following the discussions held by IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar with digital intermediaries during the Digital India dialogues over the last one month. During those meetings, the minister highlighted the urgency for all platforms and intermediaries to strictly adhere to the current laws and regulations, emphasizing that the IT rules comprehensively address the menace of deepfakes.
“Misinformation represents a deep threat to the safety and trust of users on the Internet. Deepfake which is misinformation powered by AI, further amplifies the threat to safety and trust of our Digital Nagriks,” Chandrasekhar said.
He said after Prime Minister Narendra Modi “alerted the country to the dangers of deepfakes” on November 17, the ministry had two Digital India dialogues with all the stakeholders of the Indian Internet to alert them about the provisions of the IT Rules.
Emphasizing that Rule 3(1)(b)(v) explicitly prohibits the dissemination of misinformation the minister asked all intermediaries to exercise due diligence in promptly removing such content from their platforms.
He also claimed that those platforms had been duly informed about the legal consequences associated with any violations under the IT rules.
