Maharashtra: Congress asks state govt to prepare legal, regulatory framework to deal with deepfakes

Sachin Sawant. File Pic

The Maharashtra Congress demanded that the state government set up a committee to prepare a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence (AI), reported the PTI on Saturday.

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the party's state unit general secretary Sachin Sawant said that a separate machinery is needed to identify deepfakes and expose them.

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The issue of deepfakes has come to the fore after one such video of actress Rashmika Mandanna was found circulating on social media platforms earning criticism from several politicians and celebrities.

"Celebrities like Rashmika Mandana and some international politicians have borne the brunt of deepfake attacks, and such a situation can also malign the common man and destroy him for life," the Congress leader said in a post on X.

These kinds of attacks can create chaos in the field of politics, where the discourse has already hit a low, Sachin Sawant said, adding that there is also a threat to the law and order situation due to rumours and fake news, according to the PTI.

Sachin Sawant tagged Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in his post urging them to intervene and take preventive steps.

Earlier this week, the Centre issued an advisory to major social media companies to identify misinformation, deepfakes and other content that violates rules and remove those within 36 hours after being reported to them.

The video which went viral earlier, showed Rashmika's face morphed over the body of British-Indian Instagram influencer Zara Patel.

The video quickly gained attention as many people noticed a glitch at the start of the video when Zara's face suddenly gets replaced with that of Rashmika.

Soon after the video went viral, Rashmika issued a statement on her social media, Taking a strong stance against the viral deepfake video of her, Rashmika penned a long note on social media as she wrote: "I feel really hurt to share this and have to talk about the deepfake video of me being spread online. Something like this is honestly extremely scary, not only for me, but also for each one of us who today is vulnerable to so much harm because of how technology is being misused."

(with PTI inputs)