Lok Sabha Question No. 2408 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-21
Subject: Deep Fake App
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Ganesh Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2408

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 21.12.2022

## DEEP FAKE APP

## 2408.   SHRI GANESH SINGH:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government is aware that the Deepfake App has emerged as a new alternative to spread propaganda and rumours on a large scale;

(b)  whether  Deepfake  App  can  inflict  harm  to  any  person,  institution,  businesses  and  even  a democratic system in many ways and if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether criminals are using Deepfake app as a weapon to entrap women in most of the cases of pornography;

(d) whether the misuse of app like Deepfake may pose a danger to political and social stability and national security; and

(e) if so, the details thereof along with the action taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a)  to  (e):  The  policies  of  the  Government  are  aimed  at  ensuring  an  Open,  Safe,  Trusted  and Accountable Internet for its users. With the expansion of the Internet and more and more Indians coming  online,  the  potential  for  information  that  may  be  harmful  or  pornographic  or  threatens national security, or is misinformation orinformation that is patently false and untrue or misleading in  nature,  has  grown.  The Government is  cognizant of new and evolving technologies, including technologies that alter the image or voice of a person to make it appear to be that of another person, or that create image or voice that appears to be that of a person, enabling creation of 'deep fakes', may pose security risk to individuals, enterprises and the nation.

The  Information  Technology  Act,  2000  ('IT  Act')  and  rules  made  thereunder  contain  several provisions  for  safeguarding  users  in  the  cyberspace.  The  IT  Act  penalises  various  cybercrimes relating to computer resources, including tampering with computer source documents (section 65), publishing  or  transmitting  of  obscene  material  in  electronic  form  or  containing  sexually  explicit act(sections 67, 67A and 67B), etc. Each such cybercrime is punishable with imprisonment for a period that may extend to either three years or five years, and as per section 77B of the IT Act such cybercrimes  are  cognizable  offences.  These  cybercrimes  are  in  addition  to  various  cognizable offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

As per  the  provisions  of  the  Code  of  Criminal  Procedure,  1973,  prevention  and  investigation  of cognizable offences is to be done by the police, and as per the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, 'Police' is a State subject. As such, States are primarily responsible for the prevention, investigation etc.  of  such  cybercrimes  through  the  State  police  departments,  which  take  preventive  and  penal action as per law.

To  ensure  that  Internet  in  India  is  Open,  Safe  and  Trusted  and  Accountable,  the  Central Government,  in  exercise  of  powers  conferred  by  the  IT  Act,  has  notified  amendment  to  the Information  Technology  (Intermediary  Guidelines  and  Digital  Media  Ethics  Code)  Rules,  2021. ('IT  Rules,  2021').  These  rules  cast  specific  obligation  on  intermediaries  vis-à-vis  what  kind  of information  is to be hosted, displayed, uploaded,  published,  transmitted,  stored or shared. Intermediaries are also required to remove any content violative of any law for the time being in force as and when brought to their knowledge either through a court order or through a notice by appropriate government or its authorised agency. In case of failure to follow diligence as provided in the IT Rules, 2021, by intermediaries, they shall lose their exemption from liability under section 79 of the IT Act and shall be liable for consequential action as provided in such law. Such diligence includes the following:

- (i) To publish on their website and app, their rules and regulations, privacy policy and user agreement;
- (ii) To inform the said rules to their users and to make reasonable efforts to cause the users not  to  host,  display,  upload,  modify,  publish,  transmit,  store,  update  or  share,  among others,  information  which  belongs  to  another  person,  or  is  obscene,  or  is  invasive  of another's  privacy,  or  is  insulting  or  harassing  on  the  basis  of  gender,  or  is  racially  or ethnically objectionable, or encourages money laundering, or promotes enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion or caste with the intent to incite violence, or is harmful to child, or infringes intellectual property rights, or impersonates another person, or threatens the unity, integrity, defence, security or sovereignty of India or public order, or prevents investigation, or violates any law;
- (iii) Upon receipt of an order from a lawfully authorised government agency, to provide information  or  assistance  for  prevention,  detection,  investigation  or  prosecution  under law, or for cyber security incidents;
- (iv) To have in place a grievance redressal machinery, and resolve complaints of violation of the rules within 72 hours of being reported;
- (v) In case an intermediary is a significant social media intermediary ( i.e., an intermediary having more than 50 lakh registered users in India), to additionally observe diligence in terms  of  appointing  a  Chief  Compliance  Officer,  a  nodal  contact  person  for  24x7 coordination with law enforcement agencies and a Resident Grievance Officer, publishing monthly compliance reports, etc.

Further,  the  amended  Rules  provide  for  the  establishment  of  one  or  more  Grievance  Appellate Committee(s)  to  allow  users  to  appeal  against  decisions  taken  by  Grievance  Officers  on  such complaints.  For evolving technologies and their possible misuse, the Government also continuously interacts with the stakeholders including identification of possible legislative changes.

In  addition,  the  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs  operates  a  National  Cyber  Crime  Reporting  Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in)  to  enable  citizens  to  report  complaints  pertaining  to  all  types  of cybercrimes, with special focus on cybercrimes against women.

The  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  is  also  implementing  the  Information Security  Education  and  Awareness  (ISEA)  Phase-II  project  to  build  capacities  in  the  area  of information security, train government personnel and create mass information security awareness for various users. Under this, a large number of awareness workshops have been conducted across the country, school teachers trained as master trainers to reach out to crores of users in the indirect mode  through  Cyber  Safety  and  Cyber  Security  Awareness  Weeks  organised  in  select  cities  in collaboration with State Cyber Cell / Police departments, mass awareness programmes broadcasted through Doordarshan / All India Radio, bimonthly newsletters published in print and digital mode, and multilingual awareness content in the form of handbooks, multimedia short videos, posters etc., which have been disseminated through print, electronic and social media and made available for download on the ISEA awareness portal (www.infosecawareness.in). A self-paced three module elearning  course  on  Cyber  Hygiene  Practices  has  also  been  made  available  on  the  portal,  under which a large number of participants are registered and many have also obtained certification. The material  designed  and  disseminated  includes  an  exclusive  handbook  titled Information  Security Awareness handbook for Women, and booklets on Cyber Security tips for Women and on Online Safety tips for Women@Home during COVID 19.

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