Deepfake Regulation in Process, Focus on 4 Major Factors: Union Minister Vaishnaw

After the emergence of recent deepfake content on social media, the Union Minister for Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, met industry stakeholders to discuss constructing regulations specifically on such online content.

Along with the officials from social media platforms, Nasscom, professors with knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI) and platforms where AI-generated content is created, were present in the urgent meeting with the minister.

Vaisnaw stated: “Whether in the form of new regulation or part of existing ones, the work has started today to counter such deepfake contents on online platforms.”

There will be 4 pillars based on which the regulations will be established. These include:

• Detection of deepfakes
• How to prevent (before posting, before going viral)
• Strengthening reporting mechanism
• Awareness among people

All the participants of the meeting and the government accepted that deepfake videos are not something that can be labelled as content of freedom of speech. Since such content has the potential to cause immense damage, strict regulations or steps need to be taken.

Vaishnaw said: “The preparation of the regulation draft has begun today and after 10 days there will be another meeting with the industry stakeholders regarding the progress.”

The minister told News18 that as discussed at the meeting, all the companies, meanwhile, have decided to take steps internally in terms of their policies.

A MeitY official told News18 that all the discussions taking place regarding deepfakes and AI usage will be introduced and discussed at the upcoming GPAI summit with global leaders.

One of the steps that was part of the discussion was watermarking AI-generated content or some kind of labelling system. However, the government is aware of some tools which can be used to remove such marks.

But it is still a topic of discussion and the government will see what kind of progress they make regarding regulation in the next 10 days, said officials. Vaishnaw stated that once the draft is ready, it will be up for public consultation.