MeitY Calls On Intermediaries To Swiftly Remove Fake Content In Newly Issued Advisory

In response to a Bombay High Court order, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has asked all intermediaries to swiftly and aggressively delete fraudulent content.

Within 10 hours of receiving a complaint, the HC ordered Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram, to remove all incorrect content, including edited videos and accounts about the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology wishes to remind intermediaries of their duty to swiftly remove any prohibited material at the earliest opportunity. Intermediaries are advised to complete the takedown process, where necessary, as proactively as possible without waiting for the time limits set in the Rules, which serve only as an upper threshold.”

Information Technology Act and Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were mentioned in the recommendation. As to the IT Act, IT Rules 2021, and the 2015 Supreme Court decision in the Shreya Singhal case, intermediaries must remove "unlawful information" from their website within 36 hours of obtaining "actual knowledge," which can be obtained through a court order or a notice from the "appropriate government".

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India warned investors in July of this year over deepfake films that purportedly showed Ashishkumar Chauhan, the company's CEO, in various stock advising and investment videos.

The Maharashtra Youth Congress social media account and sixteen other people were recently the target of a complaint brought by the Mumbai police for allegedly spreading a deepfake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Numerous well-known figures have also been duped by deepfake films on the internet, including Scarlett Johansson, Emma Watson, Elon Musk, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Numerous reports of similar occurrences have been made all around the nation.