Social Media Liability for Fake News, Deepfakes, and AI-Generated Misinformation in India: Examining the Emerging Legal Challenges
This article is written by Ridhima Maheshwari, pursuing LL.B. from Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), Pune.
The rapid development of social media platforms and the advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AI) have modified the way how information consumption and distribution is created. While AI and other platforms have enabled safer information and greater access to knowledge. A significant number of businessmen and the Indian government are worried about the spread of fake news, AI-generated misinformation, and deepfakes, which affect public safety, democracy, and social peace. These platforms create serious concerns relating to data privacy, public order, reputation, individual rights, and the democratic process.
Fake news refers to false or misleading information presented on legal platforms. It generally consists of written articles, social media posts, or blogs, whereas deepfakes involve heavily altered AI videos, audio, or images to create realistic but false content. It is commonly used to spread hyper-realistic misinformation, manipulate political agendas, and commit identity theft to create misleading digital content at a large scale.
In India, directives for misinformation involve various regulating framework includes Information Technology Act, 2000, the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2023, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. Though, existing law for AI that regulates deepfakes and AI-generated misinformation.
This paper examines the liability of social media platforms to regulate harmful digital content to provide an effective judicial approach, Indian laws, and an international legal framework. It also argues that India requires a proper legal framework to protect freedom of speech while ensuring liability of technology platforms.
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