HT Digital,
New Delhi, Nov 6: Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has expressed concern over the ‘deepfake’ video of actor Rashmika Mandanna which is currently circulating on social media. He emphasised the need for platforms to address this harmful and misleading form of misinformation.
In a statement on X, the Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT highlighted the commitment of PM Narendra Modi’s government to ensure the safety and trust of all DigitalNagriks using the Internet.
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He cited the IT rules notified in April 2023, stating that platforms have a legal obligation to prevent the posting of misinformation by any user and to remove such content within 36 hours of it being reported by any user or the government.
He warned that non-compliance could lead to legal action under rule 7 and the provisions of the IPC. He further stressed that deepfakes represent an even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation which platforms must address.
The Union Minister responded to a tweet by journalist Abhishek Kumar, who highlighted the urgent need for a legal and regulatory framework to tackle deepfake incidents in India. Kumar had posted a video of actress Zara Patel, originally uploaded on 9 October, which had been manipulated. Patel, a British-Indian with 415K Instagram followers, has found herself at the centre of this controversy. Amitabh Bachchan, who starred alongside Patel in ‘Good Bye’, echoed the sentiment for legal action in response to Kumar’s post, agreeing that this incident presents a strong case for legal intervention.
