Regulating Deepfakes In India: A Legal And Ethical Analysis Of Misinformation In The Age Of AI
- IJLLR Journal
- Jul 10
- 1 min read
Asim Mustafa Khan, Jamia Millia Islamia
ABSTRACT
The rapid rise of deepfake technology AI-generated synthetic media that alters audio, video, or images creates immediate legal and ethical concerns for India's digital society. Deepfakes impair individual privacy, consent to use, reputation, and national security and also increase misinformation, disinformation, and electoral tampering. The Indian legal architecture, including the Information Technology Act and Indian Penal Code, remains responsive and piecemeal, and therefore does not provide adequate redress for the complex harms posed by deepfakes.
This paper uses a doctrinal and comparative legal analysis approach by analysing Indian laws in contrast to regulatory responses in the United States, European Union, and China. It provides an overview of judicial responses in India in addition to the formation of digital personality rights, but also notes the lack of a coordinated legislative approach.
The paper concludes by calling for a prospective rights-based regulatory approach whether via watermarking, AI responsibility, platform responsibility, or public digital literacy frameworks. This view is based on Indian constitutional values with relation particularly to Articles 19 and 21 and defending access to innovation and freedom of expression, while preserving safeguards against digital harms. The research concludes by stating that without reform that anticipates the deepfake threat and builds public trust in the information digital realm, India runs the risk of lagging further behind in responding to the changing threat from deepfakes.
Keywords: Deepfakes, Misinformation, Disinformation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), Non- consensual pornography, Synthetic media, Identity theft
