Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has reacted to the ‘deepfake’ video of actor Rashmika Mandanna going viral on social media. The Union Minister said that these dangerous and damaging form of misinformation needs to be dealt with by platforms. Taking to X, the Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT wrote, “PM Narendra Modi ji's Govt is committed to ensuring Safety and Trust of all DigitalNagriks using Internet. "Stating the IT rules notified in April, 2023, the Minister, "it is a legal obligation for platforms to: ensure no misinformation is posted by any user AND, ensure that when reported by any user or govt, misinformation is removed in 36 hrs. If platforms do not comply with this, rule 7 will apply and platforms can be taken to court by aggrieved person under provisions of IPC. Deepfakes are latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and needs to be dealt with by platforms."
The Union Minister tweet came in reply to a journalist named Abhishek Kumar who had shared the video of the actress and called for "an urgent need for a legal and regulatory framework to deal with deepfake incidents in the country. Kumar also shared the original video and said that, the video is of Zara Patel and was uploaded on 9 October. Patel is a British-Indian girl with 415K followers on Instagram. For the unversed, Deepfake technology represents one of the negative aspects of the ever-advancing field of AI. It allows cybercriminals not just to change their voices to sound like someone else but also to doctor videos in a way that makes them look real. On the work front, Rashmika will be seen next in 'Animal' opposite Ranbir Kapoor. Besides, she will also be seen in ‘The Girlfriend’. Rashmika also has an untitled next film with Vijay Deverakonda, Pushpa: The Rule with Allu Arjun, and Rainbow opposite Dev Mohan of Shaakuntalam fame.