Safe harbour rules will not apply if deepfakes are not removed, Centre warns social media firms

Union Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday warned social media platforms that the safe harbour immunity clause under the Information Technology Act will not apply if they do not take steps to remove deepfakes, reported PTI.

The safe harbour clause protects social media intermediaries such as Google and Facebook from legal action against them for content posted online by their users.

Deepfakes are techniques to manipulate audio and video content with the help of artificial intelligence software to show people saying or doing things that they never said or did. The content is made to appear as realistic as possible and is often used with malicious intent. Deepfake content poses a new threat to an online ecosystem that already teems with fake photos created through editing software as well as misinformation and disinformation.

On Saturday, Vaishnaw said that the social media platforms have responded to the government’s advisory notice about following the Information Technology Act but added that they need to be “more aggressive” in taking against such content.

“They are taking steps...but we think that many more steps will have to be taken,” the minister told reporters.

He said that the government will soon summon the representatives of the platform to deliberate on the issue and prevent...

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