The Rashmika Mandanna Deepfake video has sparked strong reaction from the The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) . The ministry has taken a firm stance against the growing menace of deepfakes on social media platforms. In a recent move, MeitY sent out advisories to various social media giants, including Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, emphasizing the urgent need to remove any misleading content generated through artificial intelligence – commonly known as deepfakes – within a strict timeframe of 24 hours.
This decision comes in the wake of a recent incident involving a deepfake video of renowned actor Rashmika Mandanna, which rapidly circulated across various social media platforms, sparking widespread concern. It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time the Ministry has intervened in such matters. Earlier this year, MeitY had issued a similar advisory to these platforms in February, stressing the gravity of the situation and the need for swift action.
According to reliable government sources, the advisory serves as a reinforcement of the existing legal provisions that these platforms are obligated to adhere to as online intermediaries. Notably, it invokes Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, highlighting the repercussions of cheating by personation using computer resources, which could result in imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.
Deepfakes: MeitY Cracks Down on Misleading AI-Generated Content
Furthermore, the advisory reportedly cites Rule 3(2)(b) of the Information Technology Rules, which mandates social media platforms to promptly remove content involving impersonation, including artificially morphed images of individuals, within 24 hours upon receiving a complaint.
The recent deepfake case involving Rashmika Mandanna specifically gained traction on Instagram, where her face was manipulated into a video depicting a woman entering a lift while dressed in revealing attire. It was later revealed that the original video belonged to a British-Indian social media influencer and was initially uploaded last month.
In response to the alarming proliferation of deepfakes, renowned actor Amitabh Bachchan has called for legal repercussions against the offenders behind the deepfake of Mandanna. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Union Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar emphasized the critical need to address deepfakes as they represent a particularly insidious and damaging form of misinformation that warrants immediate action by online platforms.
In her own response to the distressing incident, Rashmika Mandanna expressed deep concern, emphasizing that the implications of such videos are not only hurtful for her personally but also represent a larger threat to individuals who are increasingly vulnerable to technology-driven harm on online platforms.
This incident sheds light on the alarming reality that deepfake technology poses a significantly higher risk to women, especially in an already hostile online environment. The emergence of deepfakes has introduced a disturbing new dimension to the ways in which women can be targeted and harassed on the internet, underscoring the pressing need for robust measures to combat such malicious activities.