Deepfakes: Concept, Celebrity Instances, Impact and related Indian and U.S. Laws

Abstract

With the ongoing trends and development of Artificial Intelligence there has been the emergence of deepfake technology. This technology manipulates the audio and visuals of an original content to create a new one which is synthesized and manipulated. In the recent times the internet specially the social media are full of such deepfake videos which on one hand is violating the privacy of an individual or personal rights of a celebrity and on the other hand are misleading the viewers. In addition, various incidents of cyber frauds are being reported which are committed using this deepfake technology. This paper deals with the concept of deepfake and certain technical aspects that are involved in their creation. Along with this, the paper is focused on highlights Indian and international instances of deepfakes which were misleading and made use of various celebrities and politicians. In addition, the paper highlights comparative study of the Indian laws and the U.S. based laws that deal with the deepfake content with special reference to the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita,2023, Malicious Deep Fake Prohibition Act of 2018 ad DEEP FAKES Accountability Act. Lastly the paper mentions the impact of spread of deepfake videos o social media platforms and measures to deal with it.