Lok Sabha Question No. 46 (STARRED), answered on 2025-12-03
Subject: Protection of Personal Images and Data given to AI Apps
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Omprakash Bhupalsinh Alias Pavan Rajenimbalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *46

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 03.12.2025

## PROTECTION OF PERSONAL IMAGES AND DATA GIVEN TO AI APPS

## †*46. SHRI OMPRAKASH BHUPALSINH ALIAS PAVAN RAJENIMBALKAR:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether people's personal images and data given to Al apps are protected by law;
- (b) whether such protection is provided under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and if so, the details thereof along with the status of the Rules and the Data Protection Board under the said Act;
- (c) whether the Government has directed social media platforms to detect and remove deepfakes and morphed images;
- (d) whether it has been made mandatory to remove such content within 36 hours of being reported along with the number of actions taken for non-compliance during the last two years;
- (e)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  make  labels/watermarks  mandatory  for  Al-generated content; and
- (f)  whether  any  grants  has  been  given  to  Indian  startups  or  researchers  working  on  deepfake detection under the IndiaAl Mission and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

† O.I.H.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN THE REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *46 FOR 03.12.2025 REGARDING 'PROTECTION OF PERSONAL IMAGES AND DATA GIVEN TO AI APPS'

(a)  to  (f):    The  Digital  Personal  Data  Protection  Act,  2023  (DPDP  Act),  and  the  Digital  Personal  Data Protection Rules, 2025, notified on 13 November 2025, apply uniformly to all forms of digital personal data. This includes personal images and data.

The Act also provides for the establishment of the Data Protection Board of India, with a Chairperson and four other Members appointed through a Search-cum-Selection Committee.

The Act establishes a comprehensive framework that empowers individuals with specific rights over their personal data. It also lays down obligations for organizations (Data Fiduciaries) that determine the purpose and means of processing digital personal data.

The Government actively engages social media  platforms and other stakeholders to  counter  deepfakes, morphed images and malicious synthetic content.

## Advisories to intermediaries

Government of India has issued multiple advisories to social media intermediaries to ensure an open, safe, trusted and accountable digital ecosystem.

Advisories dated 26.12.2023, 15.03.2024 and 21.11.2025 reminded intermediaries of their due-diligence obligations under The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021

Intermediaries specifically advised to strengthen detection and removal of unlawful and false content, including malicious synthetic media and deepfakes.

## IT Rules (Amendment) 2025

Further, under the IT Rules (Amendment) 2025, intermediaries are required to remove or disable access to specified  unlawful  content  within  36  hours  of  receiving  actual  knowledge  through  a  court  order  or authorised government intimation.

## Draft amendments to the IT Rules, 2021

Government of India has prepared draft amendments to the IT Rules, 2021 related to synthetically generated information and placed them for public consultation

Amendments strengthen due-diligence obligations for intermediaries-particularly Social Media Intermediaries, Significant Social Media Intermediaries, and platforms enabling creation or modification of synthetic and AI-generated content

Mandatory labelling, watermarking and traceability mechanisms proposed to clearly identify AI-generated manipulated content and prevent misinformation

## Role of States and Law Enforcement Agencies

'Police'  and  'Public  Order'  are  State  subjects  under  the  Seventh  Schedule  to  the  Constitution  of  India States/UTs are primarily responsible for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of crimes through their Law Enforcement agencies (LEAs)

LEA also take legal action as per the provisions of law against the individuals involved in misuse of social media

## AI mission:

The Government approved the IndiaAI Mission  in March 2024  as a national-level initiative to  build  a comprehensive, inclusive, and sustainable AI ecosystem.

One of its key pillars, Safe & Trusted AI, seeks to balance innovation with robust governance frameworks to ensure responsible AI adoption. Under this pillar, the following three projects have been selected for research and development.

| Project Title                                                                                                                                                           | Selected Applicant                                            |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
| Saakshya: Multi-Agent, RAG-Enhanced Framework for Deepfake Detection and Governance                                                                                     | IIT Jodhpur (CI)& IIT Madras                                  |
| AI Vishleshak: Improving Audio-Visual Deepfake Detection and Handwritten Signature Forgery Detection with Adversarial Robustness, Explainability &Domain Generalization | IIT Mandi &Directorate of Forensic Services, Himachal Pradesh |
| Real-Time Voice Deepfake Detection System                                                                                                                               | IIT Kharagpur                                                 |

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