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As the country heads to Lok Sabha elections in 2024, the Centre is looking to invoke a controversial law that would require WhatsApp to share details about the first originator of a message on account of rising artificial intelligence (AI)-led misinformation on the messaging platform, The Indian Express has learnt.
The basis for this are multiple deepfake videos of politicians circulating on WhatsApp, and the government is understood to be in the process of sending an order to the messaging company under the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2021, seeking the identity of the people who first shared the videos on the platform.
A deepfake is a video of a person in which the face or body has been digitally altered so that he or she appears to be someone else, typically used to spread false information.
“It’s not about partisanship. The videos in question depicted deepfakes of politicians from different political parties. Such fake videos of politicians from across the political aisle have been brought to our notice, which we believe can cause harm to electoral integrity in India. So we are planning to send a first originator notice to WhatsApp,” a senior government official said, requesting anonymity.
This would be the first time that the Central government will directly send an Internet platform an order under Section 4 (2) of the IT Rules, 2021.
The move could be controversial given that WhatsApp and Facebook challenged the provision in Delhi High Court in 2021, saying it will “severely undermine” the privacy of their users. The case is currently sub judice.
But this underlines the friction that social media platforms and the government share when it comes to grappling with issues such as online misinformation, especially during elections when such content typically soars on Internet platforms.
The IT law provision that the Government looks to invoke is at the centre of a debate given that WhatsApp has called it a threat to its end-to-end encryption system which keeps communications private from even the company itself. The platform says enforcement of such a measure will lead to mass surveillance. The government, on its part, says normal functioning of WhatsApp will not be impacted.
Asked for a comment, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar indicated that the government was open to the option of sending the notice to WhatsApp.
“The anonymous use of messaging platforms to propagate fake videos and audio is a major challenge we are grappling with. The traceability provision needs to be invoked to create some accountability and put brakes on this practice,” Chandrasekhar said, without mentioning the name of the platform.
WhatsApp did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
The IT Rules say that online messaging companies will be required to divulge the identity of a person who first sends a particular message on their platform. The order for the requirement, colloquially known as traceability, can be passed either by a court, or the government.
The orders, however, can only be issued for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution or punishment of an offence related to national security issues, public order, friendly relations with a foreign government, among other things.
No order, the rules say, shall be passed in cases where other “less intrusive means” are effective in identifying the originator of the information.
WhatsApp, which is the most used messaging platform in India, has said that the provision is a threat to its end-to-end encryption system which keeps communications between two people private from even the company itself. It has questioned the technical feasibility of enforcing the measure, saying it will break its security systems and lead to “mass surveillance”.
The government has maintained that the measure will not impact the normal functioning of WhatsApp and its “common users”.
Last month, the Tripura High Court stayed an order by a trial court which had directed WhatsApp to disclose the first originator of a chat containing a fake resignation letter of Chief Minister Manik Saha.
The High Court held that the trial court did not specifically deal with the issue regarding the extent of threat to “public order” as prescribed under Rule 4 (2), before asking WhatsApp to reveal the first originator of the message. It also questioned that the traceability order was issued merely two days after an FIR was filed in Tripura on the issue of the fake resignation letter.
