Remember when a video surfaced showing actress Rashmika Mandanna’s face seamlessly placed onto someone else’s body? The clip went viral across social media in seconds, sparking outrage and concern nationwide. Then there was the deepfake video of cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar endorsing a gaming app, something he never actually did. These aren’t isolated incidents anymore. They’re becoming alarmingly common with lack of Deepfake Laws.
Welcome to the age of deepfakes, where artificial intelligence can make anyone say or do anything on video. What once seemed like science fiction is now a real threat to privacy, reputation, and truth itself. In a country like India, where digital literacy is still catching up and social media spreads content like wildfire, the dangers are magnified.
The question isn’t whether deepfakes will cause harm, they already are. The real question is: Are India’s laws equipped to handle this AI-powered deception? Spoiler alert: not yet. And that’s a problem we can’t afford to ignore.
What Exactly Are Deepfakes?
A deepfake is a video, image, or audio recording that’s been manipulated using artificial intelligence to make it look like someone said or did something they never actually did. The term combines “deep learning” (a type of AI) with “fake.”
Using machine learning algorithms, AI studies thousands of images and videos of a person to understand their facial movements, voice patterns, and mannerisms. Then it creates incredibly realistic fake content that can fool even trained eyes.
Not all deepfakes are evil. Filmmakers use the technology to de-age actors or recreate performances. Satirists create parody videos for entertainment. But the dark side is darker than you’d imagine: revenge pornography, financial fraud, political manipulation, and character assassination. When technology that powerful falls into the wrong hands, it becomes a weapon.
Why Deepfakes Are a Legal and Ethical Nightmare
Deepfakes create problems that traditional laws weren’t designed to handle. Here’s why they’re so dangerous:
Identity Theft on Steroids: Imagine someone using your face to commit fraud, spread misinformation, or create inappropriate content. Your identity becomes a puppet in someone else’s hands.
Fake News and Misinformation: During elections, a deepfake video of a candidate saying something inflammatory could swing voter opinions overnight. By the time fact-checkers debunk it, the damage is done.
Extortion and Blackmail: Deepfake pornography disproportionately targets women, with victims facing threats, reputational harm, and emotional trauma. Approximately 96% of deepfake videos online are non-consensual pornographic content.
Erosion of Trust: When you can’t believe your own eyes and ears anymore, how do you distinguish truth from lies? Deepfakes threaten the very foundation of evidence-based reality.
The legal challenge is enormous: How do you prove something didn’t happen? How do you hold anonymous creators accountable when they operate across borders? How do you stop content that spreads faster than wildfire?
The Indian Legal Landscape: Are There Any Deepfake Laws?
India has no specific law for AI or against deepfakes. We’re fighting 21st-century problems with legal tools from the last millennium. However, some existing laws can be stretched to cover AI or deepfake misuse:
Information Technology Act, 2000
- Section 66C (Identity Theft): Using someone’s electronic signature, password, or unique identification without permission. This could apply to deepfakes that impersonate someone.
- Section 66D (Cheating by Personation): Fraudulently impersonating someone using computer resources. Relevant when deepfakes are used for financial fraud.
- Section 66E (Privacy Violation): Publishing private images without consent, potentially applicable to deepfake pornography.
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023
- Section 356 (Defamation): When deepfakes damage someone’s reputation by making false statements.
- Section 336 (Forgery): Creating a false document or electronic record with intent to harm.
- Section 351 (Criminal Intimidation): Threatening someone with injury to their reputation or person.
Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023
This recently enacted law focuses on consent-based data processing and unauthorized use of personal data. Since deepfakes require harvesting someone’s images, videos, and biometric data, violations could fall under this Act.
The Enforcement Problem
Here’s where it gets tricky. Even with these laws, enforcement faces massive hurdles:
- Anonymous Creators: Deepfake makers hide behind fake accounts and VPNs.
- Cross-Border Issues: Content created abroad but circulated in India falls into jurisdictional gray zones.
- Technical Complexity: Police and courts often lack the technical expertise to handle AI-related cases.
- Speed of Spread: By the time legal action begins, millions have already seen the fake content.
The Right to Privacy and Personality Rights
In 2017, the Supreme Court declared privacy a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution. Deepfakes directly violate this right by appropriating someone’s image, voice, and identity without consent.
But there’s another layer: personality rights, the legal principle that gives individuals control over the commercial use of their name, image, likeness, and voice. Think of it as ownership over your public persona.
Unlike privacy rights, which protect what you want to keep hidden, personality rights protect what makes you recognizable. In India, these rights exist through judicial interpretation rather than a dedicated law. Courts have recognized them on a case-by-case basis, especially when celebrities sue to protect their image from unauthorized commercial exploitation.
Deepfakes threaten both privacy and personality rights. They can expose private moments you never shared, and they can commercially exploit your public image without permission.
Celebrities Going to Court: Protecting Image and Personality Rights
Indian celebrities have been at the forefront of protecting their personality rights, setting important legal precedents:
Hrithik Roshan vs. Image Misuse
Hrithik Roshan successfully obtained legal protection against unauthorized use of his name, image, and likeness. The court acknowledged that his persona has significant commercial value that requires legal safeguards, especially in the digital age where manipulation is easier than ever.
Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth
Both superstars have taken legal action to protect their personality rights from unauthorized commercial exploitation. Courts have consistently ruled in favor of celebrities, recognizing that their fame and public image are assets they have the right to control.
Amitabh Bachchan vs. Commercial Exploitation (2022)
The Delhi High Court granted legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan an injunction preventing unauthorized use of his name, image, voice, and even his iconic baritone in advertisements and lottery schemes. The court recognized that his persona has commercial value that he alone can control.
Anil Kapoor vs. Image Misuse (2023)
In a landmark ruling, the Delhi High Court protected actor Anil Kapoor’s personality rights, including his name, image, voice, and popular catchphrase “jhakaas.” The court recognized that with advancing AI technology, celebrities need stronger legal shields against digital impersonation and deepfakes.
Shah Rukh Khan and Others
Several Bollywood stars have sought legal protection against unauthorized use of their image for commercial gain. These cases consistently establish that celebrities have property rights in their persona.
These judgments are significant because they acknowledge that in the digital age, especially with AI, protecting one’s image isn’t just about ego. It’s about controlling how your identity is used, preventing fraud, and maintaining public trust.
Celebrities make perfect test cases because their images have obvious commercial value. But the principles apply to everyone. Your right to control your own image doesn’t disappear just because you’re not famous.
The Global Approach: How Other Countries Are Responding
India isn’t alone in struggling with deepfakes, and we can learn from how other countries are responding:
United States
Several states have enacted specific deepfake laws:
- California: Criminalizes malicious deepfakes in pornography and political contexts, especially within 60 days of an election.
- Texas: Makes it illegal to create deepfake videos intended to harm political candidates or influence elections.
- Virginia: Specifically criminalizes deepfake pornography without consent.
European Union
The EU takes a comprehensive approach:
- AI Act: Requires transparency when AI-generated content is used, including mandatory disclosure labels on deepfakes.
- GDPR: Strict data protection rules make it harder to harvest personal data needed to create convincing deepfakes.
China
China requires AI-generated content to be clearly labeled as such. Platforms must use technical measures to identify and mark deepfakes, and creators face penalties for not disclosing AI manipulation.
What India Can Learn
These frameworks show that effective regulation requires multiple approaches: criminal penalties for malicious use, transparency requirements for AI content, platform accountability, and strong privacy protections. India needs a similar multi-layered strategy.
The Way Forward: What India Needs
To effectively combat deepfakes, India needs comprehensive legal reforms:
1. Dedicated Deepfake Legislation
Amend the Information Technology Act to specifically address AI-generated content. Define deepfakes, establish clear penalties, and create fast-track mechanisms for content removal.
2. Mandatory Disclosure Requirements
Follow China’s model: require creators to disclose when content is AI-generated or manipulated. Platforms should implement technical solutions to detect and label deepfakes automatically.
3. Strengthen Personality Rights
Codify personality rights into law rather than leaving them to judicial interpretation. Clarify that these rights apply to AI-generated content and deepfakes.
4. Platform Accountability
Hold social media platforms responsible for rapid takedown of reported deepfakes. Implement verification systems and swift grievance redressal mechanisms.
5. Enhanced Penalties
Create separate, stringent penalties for deepfake pornography, electoral manipulation, and fraud. Make the punishment proportionate to the potential harm.
6. National Detection Framework
Establish government-backed technology infrastructure to detect deepfakes. Partner with tech companies and research institutions to stay ahead of evolving AI capabilities.
7. Digital Literacy and Awareness
Launch public awareness campaigns teaching people to spot deepfakes and verify content before sharing. Education is as important as legislation.
8. Consent-Based AI Training
Regulate how AI systems harvest and use personal data for training. Require explicit consent before someone’s image or voice can be used in AI models.
How Victims Can Take Legal Action
If you’ve been targeted by a deepfake, here’s what you can do:
Step 1: Document Everything
Screenshot or download the deepfake content immediately. Record URLs, timestamps, platforms, and user accounts. Collect evidence of how widely it spread and any damages caused.
Step 2: Report to Platforms
Use platform reporting mechanisms to request immediate takedown. Most social media sites have policies against manipulated media and non-consensual intimate images.
Step 3: File a Cybercrime Complaint
Report to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) or your local police station. Cite relevant sections of the IT Act and IPC based on the nature of misuse.
Step 4: Send Legal Notices
For quicker action, send legal notices to the creator (if known) and hosting platforms demanding immediate removal and threatening legal action. This often produces faster results than waiting for police investigation.
Step 5: Seek Civil Remedies
File a civil suit for:
- Injunction: Court order to immediately stop circulation
- Damages: Financial compensation for reputational harm
- Defamation: If the deepfake damaged your reputation
Step 6: Protect Your Personality Rights
If you’re a public figure or the misuse is commercial, file specifically for violation of personality and image rights, citing recent precedents.
Get Professional Help
Navigating deepfake cases requires technical and legal expertise. Platforms like My Legal Pal can help you draft effective legal notices, understand your rights, and take swift action to protect your online reputation. Early intervention often prevents the damage from becoming irreparable.
Conclusion: Balancing AI Innovation and Human Dignity
Technology isn’t the enemy, misuse is. AI has incredible potential to transform entertainment, education, and communication. But when that same technology can destroy reputations, manipulate elections, and violate dignity, we need guardrails.
India stands at a crossroads. We can continue reacting to each deepfake scandal as it erupts, or we can proactively build a legal framework that protects citizens while allowing innovation to flourish. The choice seems obvious.
Without legal safeguards, deepfakes will continue eroding trust in everything we see and hear online. Truth becomes negotiable. Evidence becomes questionable. Justice becomes harder to achieve.
India has made tremendous strides in digital adoption, UPI, Digital India, and now AI development. But with great digital power comes the responsibility to protect those who use these platforms. Our laws must evolve from simply reacting to deepfakes to actively regulating them, before AI rewrites what we accept as truth.
The technology is here. The threats are real. The question is: Will our laws catch up before the next viral deepfake destroys another innocent person’s life?
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Are deepfakes illegal in India?
India doesn’t have a specific law against deepfakes yet, but they can be prosecuted under existing laws like the Information Technology Act, 2000 (Sections 66C, 66D, 66E) and BNS provisions for defamation, forgery, and criminal intimidation. The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, also provides some protection against unauthorized data use.
2. Can I take legal action if someone creates a deepfake of me?
Yes, absolutely. You can file a complaint under the IT Act for identity theft or privacy violation, pursue defamation charges under BNS Sections, and seek civil remedies like injunctions and damages. Celebrities can also invoke personality rights protection based on recent judicial precedents.
3. How do I report a deepfake video or image?
Report to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in or your local police station. Also report directly to the social media platform hosting the content. Document all evidence before reporting, including screenshots, URLs, and timestamps.
4. What are personality rights and how do they protect against deepfakes?
Personality rights give you control over the commercial use of your name, image, likeness, and voice. While not codified in a specific law, Indian courts recognize these rights. They protect against unauthorized exploitation of your public persona, which is exactly what deepfakes do when they misuse your appearance.
5. Can deepfake pornography be prosecuted in India?
Yes. Deepfake pornography can be prosecuted under IT Act Section 66E (violation of privacy), Section 67 (publishing obscene material), and BNS. It may also violate the DPDP Act’s provisions on unauthorized data use.
6. How long does it take to get a deepfake removed?
Removal speed varies. Platform reporting can sometimes achieve takedown within hours or days. Legal notices may take a few days to weeks. Court injunctions, while most effective, can take several weeks to obtain. Early action through legal platforms like My Legal Pal can expedite the process significantly.
7. What if the deepfake creator is anonymous or based abroad?
Anonymous creators make prosecution difficult but not impossible. Cybercrime cells can sometimes trace creators through digital forensics. For foreign creators, you can still pursue action against platforms hosting the content under Indian law, as they have operations in India.
8. Do I need to prove the video is fake, or does the creator need to prove it’s real?
Currently, the burden often falls on you to prove the content is fake, which can be challenging. However, with legal representation and forensic analysis, deepfakes can be technically verified as manipulated. This is one area where law reform is urgently needed.
9. Are there any tools to detect deepfakes?
Yes, several AI-powered tools can detect deepfakes by analyzing inconsistencies in facial movements, lighting, audio sync, and digital artifacts. Microsoft, Intel, and various research institutions have developed detection tools, though they’re in an ongoing arms race with deepfake creation technology.
10. What compensation can I get if I win a deepfake case?
Courts can award monetary damages based on reputational harm, mental anguish, and financial losses. The amount varies by case but can range from thousands to lakhs of rupees. You can also get injunctions preventing further circulation and orders requiring public apologies or corrections.
11. How can My Legal Pal help with deepfake issues?
My Legal Pal provides expert legal assistance for deepfake victims, including drafting and sending legal notices, filing cybercrime complaints, pursuing civil remedies, and protecting personality rights. Early legal intervention can prevent viral spread and minimize damage to your reputation.
12. Should celebrities worry more about deepfakes than regular people?
Celebrities are frequent targets because their images have high commercial value and public recognition. However, regular people are increasingly vulnerable, especially to deepfake pornography, financial fraud, and personal harassment. Everyone should be concerned and aware of their legal protections.