Race against deepfake ads: Will AI regulation catch up?

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Also read: Ministry of I&B tweaks self-declaration rules for advertisers This is evident from a 12-month survey conducted by McAfee, in which 75% of Indians responded that they encountered some form of deepfake content, with 38% saying they had fallen victim to deepfake scams and 18% directly affected by such fraudulent schemes. Alarmingly, among those targeted, 57% mistook celebrity deepfakes for genuine content.

Deepfake menace: In my op-ed, I had argued that although deepfake ads can be taken up under the aegis of the Consumer Protection Act (Section 2(9), 2(28) and 2(47)) and its guidelines on Misleading Advertisements and Dark Patterns, Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (Section 6), Information Technology Act, 2000 (Sections 66C, 66D, 79 and 66E), and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (R. 4(2) and 3(1)(b)), if the identities of these advertisers are unknown, as is often the case, then regulators do not have much scope of imposing penalties.

Accordingly, I suggested that the government should implement preventive measures to ensure advertisers do not employ non-consensual deepfakes (for example), coupled with mandating online platforms to develop effective mechanisms to combat such deceptive practices. Although the ministry’s recent guidelines do not specifically mention disclosure of any AI usage in self-certification, it is a welcome step as this self-declaration will require authorized representatives of advertisers to share their bonafide details along with final versions of advertisements to back their declarations.