"From Today Onwards, There Is Zero Tolerance For Violation Of IT Rules," Says Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Amid the concern regarding AI-deepfake videos, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the central government will assist citizens in filing FIRs against social media firms for violations of IT rules. Rajeev Chandrasekhar also added that social media platforms have been given seven days to align their terms of use, as per the IT rules.

After a meeting with social media platforms on the issue of deepfakes, the minister said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) will create a platform, and users can notify about IT rule violations by social media firms on this platform. “Meity will assist users to notify it about violation of IT rules and assist them in filing a First Information Report or FIR,” the Economic Times quoted the Union Minister as saying. Rajeev Chandrasekhar also added that there is zero tolerance for violations of IT rules from today onwards.

The minister also said that the central government will appoint a special officer to look into the issues to deepfake videos. Earlier, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) asked all the social media platforms to remove deepfake content within 24 hours of receiving the complaint. On November 21, Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced that the government may create a new law to tackle misinformation and deepfakes.

Earlier on November 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also raised concern over the deepfake issue and said that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for making deepfake is problematic. The central government is taking strict action over deepfake issues in the wake of several controversies to the deepfake videos of celebrities, which went viral recently. Bollywood actresses Katrina Kaif and Rashmika Mandanna, as well as Sachin Tendulkar’s daughter Sara Tendulkar, are also victims of deepfake videos.