Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw says the government is drafting regulations to check the spread of deep fakes on social media platforms, calling them a new threat to democracy.

In a meeting with social media platforms, artificial intelligence firms, and industry bodies, Vaishnaw said the government would come up with a clear and actionable plan in the next 10 days to tackle deep-seated fakes and misinformation.

He says the plan has four main pillars: identify deep fakes, prevent them by removing or reducing their virality, strengthen reporting mechanisms, and spread awareness about the technology.

The minister issued an appeal to the social media companies after the spoofing of actress Rashmika Mandanna was widely circulated on social media. A deepfake is a video of a person whose face or body has been digitally altered to look like someone else. It is usually used to spread false information.

The meeting highlighted the need for special regulation of deep counterfeiting, Vaishnaw said. New legislation could be announced through a new law, new rules, or changes to existing rules, Vaishnaw said, adding that all social media agree on the need for deep fake tagging and watermarking.

“We will have our next meeting in the first week of December to discuss the follow-up of today's decisions and also what should be included in the draft regulations,” adds Vaishnaw.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last Friday that it is important to understand how artificial intelligence works because it can be used to create deep fakes to spread misinformation intentionally or with malicious intent.

“We synchronize with other geographies where we can learn from what others are doing and share our experiences. Artificial intelligence generating algorithms and the models will have a clear bias,” adds Vaishnaw.