The government on Tuesday issued an advisory to all major social media companies in India, asking them to inform users not to host any content that impersonates another person and to promptly remove such content within 24 hours of receiving complaints in accordance with the law.
The government's action followed the viral spread of a deepfake video featuring actor Rashmika Mandanna on social media platforms.
As the video went viral, many people, including Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan, sought legal action against those responsible for the criminal act.
Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday assured that the government is committed to ensuring the safety and trust of all digital citizens using the internet.
He emphasized that it is a legal obligation for platforms to prevent the posting of misinformation by any user and to ensure that when reported by any user or the government, misinformation is removed within 36 hours.
"If platforms do not comply with this, rule 7 will apply, and platforms can be taken to court by aggrieved individuals under the provisions of the IPC,” said Chandrasekhar.
As per the IT Act of 2000 (Rule 3(1)(b)(vii)), social media intermediaries are required to observe due diligence, which includes ensuring that the rules and regulations, privacy policy, or user agreement of the intermediary inform users not to host any content that impersonates another person.
The rule specifies, 'Intermediaries shall, within 24 hours from the receipt of a complaint regarding any content in the nature of impersonation in an electronic form, including artificially morphed images of individuals, take all necessary measures to remove or disable access to such content.'
Furthermore, it provides for punishments that include imprisonment for up to 3 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh. As per Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the punishment for cheating through personation using computer resources is imprisonment for up to 3 years and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.