ECI mandates political parties to remove deepfakes within 3 hours of notification

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a directive to national and state political parties, urging them to promptly remove any deepfake content within three hours of receiving a notification. They are also advised against sharing deep fake videos or audios through their social media platforms or spreading any form of false or manipulated information that might deceive the audience.

Furthermore, parties are instructed to identify and caution individuals within their ranks responsible for posting deep fakes. Lately, deepfake videos showcasing Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and actors Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh, which were uploaded on specific social media accounts, were removed, and legal complaints were lodged.

This notice to all political parties was issued one week following a BJP delegation’s visit to the Election Commission, led by the current IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, where he requested for  “urgent measures required to address the impact of deep fakes on the electoral process”. The election commission has not prohibited political parties from utilizing any technological or AI-based tools; rather, it has only restricted the use of tools that  “distort information or spreads misinformation, which resultantly lowers the standards of electioneering”.

The EC in its letter said “The use of such manipulated, distorted, edited content on social media platforms has the potential to wrongfully sway voter opinions, deepen societal divisions, and erode trust in electioneering process by attacking laid out instrumentalities of the electoral steps in terms of means and material,”

The letter further said  “Taking cognizance of certain violations of MCC and the extant legal provisions by Political Parties/their representatives while using social media for election campaigning, the Commission today has issued directions to political parties for responsible and ethical use of social media in election campaigning to ensure level playing field among all  stakeholders. The parties have been directed to promptly remove any such content within three hours of bringing it to their notice, warn the person responsible in their party reporting unlawful information.”

In the letter, the election commission cited various provisions from existing laws that could be utilized. These include sections from the Information Technology Act such as: 

1)Section 66C , dealing with punishment for identity theft

 2)Section 66D, addressing punishment for cheating through personation using computer resources.

3) Section 123(4) from the Representation of People Act, related to corrupt practices involving false statements

4) Section 171G pertaining to false statements in connection with elections 

5) Section from the Indian Penal Code such as Section 465 and Section 469 – regarding forgery and pertaining to forgery intended to harm reputation.

6) Section 505 addressing statements leading to public mischief.

7)Additionally, a provision from the Model Code of Conduct, Paragraph (I)(2), which prohibits political parties and candidates from criticizing the private lives of workers and leaders of other parties, was also mentioned.

The Election Commission has directed political parties to report any illegal content or fake accounts to the respective social media platforms. If the issue persists after reporting, parties are advised to approach the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) under the 2021 IT Rules, which must address grievances within 15 days. However, it’s unclear if parties must first report to the platform’s grievance officer as per the IT Rules.

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