The Delhi High Court on Wednesday listed for hearing on Thursday, a Public Interest Litigation petition seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stop the circulation of deepfake videos in view of the upcoming General Elections 2024.
The petition was mentioned by Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta before the Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora.
Mehta apprised the High Court that the PIL has been filed by a lawyers’ body, expressing concern over the circulation of deepfake videos during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
As per the Senior Advocate, taking down these videos normally took several hours and by then the damage was done.
Noting that the videos were creating a narrative of misinformation, Mehta contended that there was a penal framework under the Information Technology Act to tackle such crimes, but that such action took time.
The High Court then said that if the petition was in order by 12:30 pm today, it would be listed for hearing tomorrow.
A deepfake video of Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently gone viral on social media, which led to an investigation by police authorities in several States. Many politicians have also been served notices in the matter.