Well, the thing is, it is not actually specified somewhere that deep fakes are legal in India, so consider it otherwise. Sure, if you use this modern technology in wrongful ways or to harm someone’s privacy and their mental health or spread misinformation, well, you’ll get into major legal troubles under the Information Technology Act, and we are certain of that a 100%. We’d still suggest you give this post a good read to know more about this kind of technology, what laws are there in place for this, and things like that.
Why Is Deepfake In The Headlines Of Indian Media Recently?
Do you even remember that viral video from the 2020 Legislative Assembly elections, where BJP member Manoj Tiwari appeared on the video speaking foreign languages that he actually cannot speak? Well, yes, within a very short period, the video went far and wide via WhatsApp and other social media and many people thought that it was real. But that wasn’t the case because it was all done using the deepfake technology.
And right now, we are observing that deep fakes are popping up more in Indian media, this is a serious cause of distress, and these manipulative content pieces sure are almost identical to the original ones. See there are still millions of people in India who don’t even know what deepfake is, and when they see a deepfake of a popular personality on the internet, it would be highly likely that they will straight up believe whatever the video wants to convey. So yes, the spreading of misinformation is the real risk here.
So, What Are Specific Laws Regarding Deepfake In India?
In India, deep fakes aren’t really governed by any particular law, well, that’s what we are talking about the current situation in 2024. But sure, there are some laws that can be indirectly applied to the effects of deep lakes in the country, and what are those exactly? Well, as a law, the Information Technology (IT) Act of 2000 is used mainly for legal redressal of deep lakes in India. Though, the specific part of this law that mentions punishment for impersonating via computer resources which applies to deepfakes is section 66D and the penalty can be a fine or imprisonment.
And yes, in the same way, section 66E of the IT Act is also relevant since it ensures the protection of an individual’s privacy which may be deep fakes created by someone without the knowledge of the mentioned person, you know? Talking about the consequences, well, there are both imprisonment and heavy fines in this kind of case.
Another such case, which is the Copyright Act, of 1957, have also the intersection of deepfake issues especially when someone’s name or image is being used without getting the due approval from the concerned person would amount to infringement of his/her rights.
On top of all these indirect laws talking about deep fakes, there is a need for a law that directly talks about these modern technologies, and that was the intent of the Data Protection Bill, 2021. But for now, this hasn’t become a law, YET. However, we can hope for something good in the future about that.
