Govt may tell platforms to end deepfakes voluntarily

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : The government is likely to seek robust technology and AI-based solutions from social media platforms and significant intermediaries to proactively scan for, and flag, deepfake content on their platforms, two senior officials said seeking anonymity. Platforms will be discussing voluntary mechanisms to identify and block deepfake content that may be potentially harmful during high-level meetings with officials from the ministry of electronics and information technology on Thursday and Friday.

“The issue of deepfake content, who put it, and on which platform, and then it’s virality, all elements will have to be addressed. This has to be done while allowing space for innovation.

While there have been instances of deepfake content being flagged and taken down by the platform, there has to be onus on intermediaries to do this on their own," said one of the officials. Meta, which runs social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, Google, YouTube, Telegram, Snap and other significant intermediaries, and technology experts and other stakeholders will be part of the consultations with the minister of information technology and telecom, Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday, the officials said.

Minister of state for IT and electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar will hold discussions with stakeholders on Friday, they said. The second official said the absence of rules or regulations governing deepfakes in IT Intermediary rules has been a concern of late.

“So far, any policy linked with how deepfakes and artificial intelligence (AI)-manipulated content are regulated on social media platforms are based on voluntary reporting of content. After a recent surge of deepfake content that has showcased how manipulated content can lead to a