Deepfake technology going to be serious menace in society, observes Delhi High Court

Senior journalist Rajat Sharma's plea stated that the proliferation of deepfake technology poses significant threats to various aspects of society, including misinformation and disinformation campaigns.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday observed that deepfake is going to be a serious menace in the society and the Centre will have to act on the issue. While hearing the matter, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela stated that the antidote for fake artificial intelligence (AI) would be technology only.

The Delhi HC was hearing two pleas filed against the non-regulation of deepfake technology. While one of the pleas was filed by senior journalist Rajat Sharma, the other one was filed by Advocate Chaitanya Rohilla.

During the hearing of the matter, Rohilla's counsel informed the court that the Centre in its response took a stand that the Information Technology Act and the Data Protection Act are sufficient to deal with deepfake technology.

Feepfake not confined only to India: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court to this remark said that the issue of deepfake is not confined only to India but is happening all across the world and added that some countries like the United States have come up with legislations to deal with the issue.

During the hearing of the plea, Rajat Sharma's counsel told the court that the European Union has come up with certain Regulations to tackle the issue but deepfake technology has to be treated differently than AI.

He further highlighted that the journalist's photo was used by someone using deepfake technology showing him selling medicines on India TV news channel.

What ACJ Manmohan observed 

ACJ Manmohan observed that just before the elections, a large number of PILs were filed against the use of deepfake technology. “Just before the elections and after elections… You were so agitated then….Now your counsel is saying that we have taken care of everything,” ACJ told ASG Chetan Sharma.

To this, Chetan Sharma added that, “Our body language might have changed but we are still agitated as much we were then.”

ACJ Manmohan then said that the damage will be done by this technology because you are the government. “We as an institution would have certain limitations. How it works nationally and internationally,” he stated.

To this, ASG replied that the counter AI technology can be employed 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 said.

The high court then observed that most of the platforms are situated outside India and asked how Indian law would be applicable to them.

“This (deepfake technology) is going to be a serious menace in the society. You have to act on the issue,” ACJ told ASG.

Next hearing on October 8

The next hearing in this matter will be heard on October 08. In his plea, Rohilla has sought a direction to the Central government to identify and block websites providing access to deepfakes and AI and also to lay down guidelines for regulation of the same.

What journalist Rajat Sharma said in plea 

In the meantime, journalist Rajat Sharma's plea stated that the proliferation of deepfake technology poses significant threats to various aspects of society, including misinformation and disinformation campaigns, undermining integrity of public discourse and democratic processes, potential use in fraud and identity theft as well as harm to individuals' reputations and privacy.

His plea also seeks a direction to the Central government to identify and block public access to the applications, software, platforms and websites enabling the creation of deepfakes.

Rajat Sharma in his plea sought issuance of guidelines to ensure that any access to Artificial Intelligence and deepfakes is carried out strictly in accordance with the Fundamental Rights guaranteed in Part-III of the Constitution till relevant Rules are framed by Centre.