The Centre on Tuesday issued advisory to the significant social media companies to identify misinformation and deepfakes, and in particular, information that violates the provisions of rules and regulations and/or user agreements.
The Ministry of Electronics & IT (MEITY) said in a statement directed the companies to expeditiously take action against such content or information, well within the timeframes stipulated under the IT Rules 2021.
The companies have also been directed to remove such content within 36 hours upon receiving a report from either a user or government authority.
Failing to follow the rules would “attract Rule 7 of the IT Rules, 2021 and could render the organisation liable to losing the protection available under Section 79(1) of the Information Technology Act, 2000,” MEITY stated.
Also in the statement, Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “Given the significant challenges posed by misinformation and deepfakes, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has issued a second advisory within the last six months, calling upon online platforms to take decisive actions against the spread of deepfakes.”
The Union Minister added that Deepfakes are a major violation and harm women in particular.
Elaborating further Chandrasekhar said, “It is a legal obligation for online platforms to prevent the spread of misinformation by any user under the Information Technology (IT) rules, 2021.”
He also stated that failure to comply with this requirement invokes Rule 7, which empowers aggrieved individuals to take platforms to court under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is imperative that platforms take proactive measures to combat this threat, he said.
“For those who find themselves impacted by deepfakes, I strongly encourage you to file First Information Reports (FIRs) at your nearest police station and avail the remedies provided under the Information Technology (IT) rules, 2021,” the Minister added.
