According to two sources, the Indian government issued a warning to social media companies such as Facebook and YouTube, urging them to regularly inform users about the local laws that prohibit the sharing of deepfakes, obscene content, and misinformation. Deputy IT Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar delivered this message during a private meeting, highlighting that several companies have failed to update their terms of use in accordance with the 2022 regulations that ban harmful, obscene, and child-endangering content. Additionally, the government strictly prohibits content that involves impersonation of individuals.
Amid growing fears about deepfakes, which are misleading videos generated by AI algorithms trained on online content, India’s top minister recently announced the making of rules to deal with the issue. Chandrasekhar stressed the importance for companies to promote awareness of these rules by regularly reminding users through login prompts or reminders that they are prohibited from sharing such content.
Two unnamed sources said he threatened orders if he did not comply, but preferred to remain anonymous due to the confidential nature of the meeting.
According to one of the sources, the minister stressed that this was an uncompromising requirement of the Government of India.
In a press statement, India’s IT Ministry announced that all platforms are committed to aligning their content guidelines with government regulations.
Requests for comment from Facebook and Chandrashekhar were not responded to at this time.
YouTube’s parent company Google has released a statement emphasizing its commitment to responsible AI development. The Company assures that it has implemented robust policies and systems to effectively identify and eliminate harmful content across all its products and platforms. Recently, the Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed concern about deepfakes.
During a virtual summit of G20 countries, Prime Minister Modi urged global leaders to cooperate in regulating AI and highlighted the potential negative impact of deepfakes on society. In response to growing concerns, countries around the world are actively working towards establishing regulations for AI. India, recognizing itself as an important growth market, is taking steps to tighten regulations for social media companies. In the past, the government has privately criticized these companies for failure to remove fake news, which ultimately resulted in official orders to remove content.