00:00Sonam Vangchuk and now we have breaking news coming in from Karnataka.
00:03Have you ever seen a video online and wondered, is this real?
00:07From celebrity deepfakes to AI-generated child abuse material,
00:11fake political speeches to misleading viral videos.
00:15India has been demanding action against deepfakes and generative AI misuse for years.
00:20Now the government has finally acted.
00:22On February 10th, the Ministry of Electronics and IT, which is the METI,
00:26notified the new amended IT intermediary rules.
00:30And these come into force on February 20th.
00:34So what exactly has changed and how does this affect you?
00:44For the first time, the rules clearly define something called synthetically generated information.
00:50This includes any audio, image or video that is artificially created,
00:55generated or altered using a computer in a way that it makes it look real or authentic.
01:01In simple terms, if AI creates something that looks like a real person or a real event, it counts.
01:08But there is an important exception.
01:11Basic editing like color correction, noise reduction, cropping, formatting, etc.
01:16do not count as synthetic content.
01:19If you use tools like ChatGPT, AI image generators or even advanced Photoshop features
01:26to create realistic content, you now have to clearly label it as AI-generated.
01:33If you don't, your content can be blocked, taken down and your account could be suspended.
01:39In serious cases, especially if the content violates any laws, you can face criminal penalties.
01:46And that is already raising concerns about inconsistency and confusion.
01:52Platforms like X, Instagram, WhatsApp and others must now deploy technology to identify and block illegal synthetic content.
02:00This includes child sexual abuse of material, fraud, false documents and deepfakes designed to deceive.
02:07The takedown timelines have also become much shorter.
02:12Earlier, they had 36 hours to remove flagged content, now just 3 hours.
02:17For obscene content involving nudity, that is flagged by the person in the image or someone known to them,
02:24just 2 hours, which means they must take down that content within 2 hours.
02:30While many agree that deepfakes cause real harm, legal experts are also worried about over-regulation.
02:37Some argue that platforms may over-filter the content to avoid legal risk,
02:42which means legitimate posts may get wrongly removed.
02:46And innovation and free speech could suffer.
02:49Others, however, say that many of these measures already exist in practice,
02:54especially when it comes to flagging obscene or child content.
02:57India has taken one of its strongest steps yet against AI misuse and deepfakes.
03:03The real question now is, will these rules protect users or restrict digital freedom?
03:09We'll only know once they're tested in the real world.
03:13Long.
03:13Long.
03:14Long.
03:14Long.
03:15Long.
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