Deepfake akin to forgery under new IT rules, notification in week

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, January 16

New rules to address a rapidly growing misuse of deepfake technology are all set to be notified in seven to eight days with the government in the process of explicitly defining criminal liability for such acts.

Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday told The Tribune soon-to-be-notified amended Information Technology rules would equate the peddling of deepfake content on social media platforms with forgery under the criminal law.

Victims will be able to file criminal cases, as also anyone with the knowledge of content being deepfake, Chandrasekhar said, adding the government won’t hesitate to block social media platforms found in violation of the rules.

“New rules will explicitly state criminal liability for deepfakes. The advisory issued earlier to social media intermediaries in respect of their responsibility to prevent, detect and take down deepfakes, spoke of criminal adjudication in cases of violations. But amended rules will make it clear. Victims of deepfakes can file cases of forgery under Section 469, IPC (now replaced with Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023). Anyone else who knows the content to be deepfake will also be able to file a case,” Chandrasekhar said. Under the BNS, 2023, Section 469 stands replaced with Section 334 (4).

Plans to notify new rules follow lukewarm response of social media platforms to the IT Ministry’s previous advisory directing prevention of deepfakes from being hosted on their spaces. The advisory listed 11 harms and illegalities for platforms to guard against.

That same advisory with stricter modifications will find its way into the new IT rules. “We have had two rounds of digital India dialogues with the intermediaries and drawn their attention to the consequences of non-compliance with current rules. We have issued an advisory and said if we are not satisfied with compliance, we will notify new rules which are more specific to the issue of misinformation and disinformation. We are now going to issue new amended IT rules in the next seven to eight days,” Chandrasekhar said.

Current rules provide for prohibition of misinformation and therefore deepfakes, but in the new rules, the government will prescribe clear amendments to terms of use for the platforms. “That prescription is not there in the current rules,” the minister explained.

Use of deepfakes for misrepresentation has become widespread in recent months with cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar its latest target.

There is equal and growing concern of the potential of deepfake misuse during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with evidence from the West suggesting possibilities of its misuse to target political rivals.

A doctored video of then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the eve of 2020 presidential poll where she appeared impaired revealed the deepfake threat. In 2019, the US Worldwide Threat Assessment had noted “adversaries and strategic competitors would likely attempt to use deepfakes”, to influence campaigns in the US. Earlier, PM Narendra Modi called for strict regulations against deepfakes.

Criminal liability provisions

• Govt to notify criminal liability in fresh norms, says MoS, IT
• Victims or those with knowledge of content being deepfake can file case
• Govt won’t hesitate to block social media platforms found in violation of rules

Forgery under Section 469, IPC

“Whoever commits forgery, (intending that the document or electronic record is forged) shall harm the reputation of any party, or knowing that it is likely to be used for that purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, and shall also be liable to fine.”

Tepid response to advisory

There has been mixed response to compliance. I had said at time of advisory if it is not followed through completely, we will notify very clear amended IT rules. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MoS for IT