Deepfakes

• Union Information Technology Minister stated that the government will form regulations to control the spread of deepfakes on social media platforms, terming them a “new threat to democracy”.
• The plan will have four key pillars: detection of deepfakes, their prevention by removing or reducing their virality, strengthening reporting mechanisms, and spreading awareness about the technology.
• The government will also work with other countries and geographies to ensure that there is a global collaborative effort to combat such content.

ABOUT DEEPFAKES

• A deepfake is a video of a person in which the face or body has been digitally altered so that he or she appears to be someone else.
• This is typically used to spread false information.
• These are synthetic media that use AI to manipulate or generate visual and audio content.
• Deepfakes are a part of Deep Synthesis, which uses technologies, including deep learning and augmented reality, to generate text, images, audio and video to create virtual scenes.
• It can create people who do not exist and it can fake real people saying and doing things they did not say or do.