‘Misinformation is our bigger concern than deepfake’: Karnataka IT minister after Centre's move

Karnataka IT Minister prioritizes tackling misinformation and fake news over deepfake concerns

Karnataka IT minister Priyank Kharge said the misinformation and circulation of fake news is a bigger threat to democracy as compared to artificial intelligence-generated deepfake content. His comments came after the central government announced a crackdown on deepfake content on social media, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised concerns over its misuse.

Congress leader Priyank Kharge.(File)

“The Union government must set its priorities right. There is no doubt about the dangerous consequences of deepfake, but the fact is that misinformation is the bigger issue for a democracy. The Supreme Court has already expressed its concern on misinformation that is being circulated across social media but what has the union government done?” Priyank told reporters.

The IT minister also said Karnataka's priority is to tackle misinformation and fake news at this point. “Deepfake is going to be a challenge to all of us. It is an expensive affair, and we have a long way to go. At this point, battling misinformation is our primary concern,” Kharge added.

Minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said the Centre will assist citizens in filing FIRs against social media platforms for violation of IT rules in case they are aggrieved from objectionable content like deepfakes.

The ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) will develop a platform on which users can notify about IT rule violations by social media platforms, Chandrasekhar told reporters after a meeting with social media platforms.

"The Meity will assist users to very easily notify it about violation of IT rules and assist them in filing FIRs," the minister said. The minister also stressed that not adhering to IT rules will not be tolerated.

What is deepfake?

Deepfake is an Artificial Intelligence technology which is used to swap a person’s face and voice to create content that was not performed or presented by the person in the video. It is similar to ‘morphing’ but the AI technology makes it more accurate and believable without any graphical errors. It uses powerful techniques of machine learning and AI to manipulate audio and video content.