In response to the escalating threat of deepfake technology, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology and Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw, spearheaded a high-level meeting with key stakeholders, including representatives from social media platforms, government officials, and cybersecurity experts.
Expressing the urgency of the situation, Minister Vaishnaw stressed the need for immediate action through legal, regulatory, and technological means. He stated, “We need to take very urgent steps as far as possible either legal, regulatory or technological. We need to take all kinds of steps. We had a detailed meeting with all the social media platforms today. Everybody has accepted the seriousness of this threat. Deepfake has emerged as a huge social threat today. We had long and very candid discussions.”
The discussions, marked by a sense of urgency, revolved around formulating a comprehensive strategy to tackle the challenges posed by deepfake content. Minister Vaishnaw highlighted the four pillars that need focus: detection, prevention, strengthening the reporting mechanism, and raising awareness.
“We’ve to focus on four aspects – detection, prevention, reporting mechanism of deep fake, and awareness needs to be increased. New regulations will be brought, and in the coming weeks, efforts will be made to complete the drafting of regulations,” Vaishnaw emphasized.
Acknowledging the gravity of the deepfake threat, the minister disclosed a consensus among all stakeholders, and the next meeting on the issue is scheduled for the first week of December.
“We have all agreed that within the next about 10 days, we will come up with clear actionable items…All the companies, all the platforms, and the entire industry understood that this is not free speech. They understood that this is something that is really harmful to society. They understood the need for much heavier regulation on this. So we agree that we will start drafting the regulation today. We’ll start drafting the regulations today itself. And within a very short time frame, we will have a new set of regulations for deep fake,” the Minister stated.
Participating entities included social media companies, NASSCOM, and AI professors, showcasing a united front against the growing threat of deepfake technology. The proactive stance taken by the government underscores its commitment to safeguarding against the detrimental impacts of deepfake technology.
