Aarohi Dhumale
On Wednesday, 28th August , the Delhi High Court expressed concerns about Deepfakes and the necessity of legislation regulating it.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela were hearing two pleas, one filed by senior journalist Rajat Sharma and the other filed by Advocate Chaitanya Rohilla.
The Counsel representing Advocate Rohila informed the Court that the Centre was of the opinion that the Information Technology Act and the Data Protection Act are sufficient to deal with deepfakes. The bench remarked that deepfake isn’t a problem confined to India, but the whole world and countries like the USA have brought laws to tackle it. The Advocate representing Rajat Sharma informed that the European Union has also brought some regulations, but deepfakes must be treated differently than Artificial Intelligence (AI). He informed how the senior journalist’s photograph was misused with the help of deepfake and he was falsely portrayed to be selling medicines. His plea stated how the increasing usage of deepfakes threatens various aspects of society, right from spreading misinformation and disinformation to undermining the integrity of public discourse and democratic processes, potential use in fraud and identity theft, and harm to individuals’ reputation and privacy. The plea seeks direction to the Central government to identify and block public access to the applications, software, platforms and websites which enable the creation of deepfakes. It also seeks the issuance of directions to ensure that access to AI and deepfakes doesn’t violate Fundamental Rights in Part III of the Constitution until the Center establishes the appropriate Rules.
ACJ Manmohan, referring to a large number of Public Interest Litigations right before and after the General Elections, told Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, “Just before the elections and after elections… You were so agitated then….Now your counsel is saying that we have taken care of everything,”. Replying to this, the ASG said, “Our body language might have changed but we are still agitated as much we were then.” He said that counter AI can be used to annul “what would be otherwise a very damaging situation.”
“The point is, one is detection, then prevention, building a grievance reporting mechanism and raising awareness. As a first start, there could be a disclaimer on platforms…,” he added. The Court enquired that since most of these platforms are located abroad, how would the Indian law apply to them. “This (deepfake technology) is going to be a serious menace in the society. You have to act on the issue,” the ASG was told by the ACJ.
The next hearing is scheduled for 8th October, 2024.
Bench: Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela