Deepfakes: Govt summons top tech firms tomorrow

New Delhi, November 21

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has summoned top social media companies for a meeting with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on November 23 over deepfake content.

The meeting comes after the Ministry issued an advisory to these platforms, urging them to take stronger action against AI-generated deepfake content.

Some intermediaries have responded to the advisory, outlining the measures they take to combat deepfakes, but the government believes they should be doing more. In the upcoming meeting, to be chaired by Vaishnaw, the government will release a standard operating procedure (SOP) outlining how social media giants should address the deepfake challenge within their platforms.

The government’s advisory sent to social media platforms a few days ago sternly warned them that failing to promptly remove deepfake content from their platforms could lead to consequences, such as losing safe harbour (immunity) provisions. The provisions grant legal protection to Internet platforms against user-generated content.