IT Minister Issues a Strong Warning in Response to the Viral Deepfake of Rashmika Mandanna
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar reminded social media platforms of their legal obligations to combat misinformation today, citing a viral deepfake video featuring actress Rashmika Mandanna. The video, which originally featured British-Indian influencer Zara Patel, has been manipulated to show the actress’s face.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is committed to ensuring the safety and trust of all digital citizens using the internet. He also jotted down the legal obligations for social media platforms under the IT rules.
PM @narendramodi ji’s Govt is committed to ensuring Safety and Trust of all DigitalNagriks using Internet
Under the IT rules notified in April, 2023 – it is a legal obligation for platforms to
➡️ensure no misinformation is posted by any user AND
➡️ensure that when reported by… https://t.co/IlLlKEOjtd
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar ?? (@Rajeev_GoI) November 6, 2023
Under the IT rules notified in April 2023, social media platforms are legally obligated to ensure that no misinformation is posted by any user and to remove it when reported by any user or government.
If platforms fail to comply with this obligation, aggrieved persons can take them to court under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, added the minister. “Deepfakes are the latest and most dangerous form of misinformation, and platforms must deal with them,” Mr. Chandrasekhar said.
Deepfakes, which use artificial intelligence to alter photos or videos to replace a person or an element, have become a major source of misinformation in recent years, often being used to create fake viral posts.
In the recent case, Zara Patel, a British-Indian influencer with over 400,000 followers on Instagram, shared a video of herself entering a lift in a black outfit. The video was then manipulated using deepfake technology to replace her face with that of actress Rashmika Mandanna.
In a statement she posted on X, Mandanna said that the issue must be addressed “with urgency before more of us are affected by such identity theft.”
I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online.
Something like this is honestly, extremely scary not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused.…
— Rashmika Mandanna (@iamRashmika) November 6, 2023
