Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday called for significantly stronger regulations to tackle the growing threat of deepfakes, asserting that all digital platforms operating in India must strictly adhere to the country’s legal framework and the Constitution. 

Speaking at a media briefing during the AI Impact Summit, Vaishnaw said companies such as Netflix, YouTube, Meta, and X are obligated to comply with Indian laws.  

Rapid rise of deepfake content poses serious risks to children 

Highlighting the rapid rise of deepfake content, the minister said the issue poses serious risks to children and society at large. “The problem of deepfakes is growing day by day. We need much stronger regulation,” he said, adding that the government has initiated consultations with industry stakeholders to examine additional safeguards beyond existing provisions. 

The minister said that discussions are underway with social media platforms to determine appropriate measures, including age-based access restrictions. The matter has also been examined in detail by a parliamentary committee, he said, stressing the need to build consensus within Parliament for introducing tougher curbs. 

Need for age-based regulation of online content: Vaishnaw 

He pointed out that several countries have already acknowledged the need for age-based regulation of online content. Referring to India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) framework, Vaishnaw said the government had taken a forward-looking step by incorporating age-based differentiation for content accessible to children and young users. 

The minister also announced that sovereign AI models have been launched at the summit and are performing on par with leading global systems such as ChatGPT by OpenAI and Gemini by Google. Under the proposed AI Mission 2.0, the government plans to build large-scale infrastructure to expand nationwide access to these sovereign models. 

12 organisations have been selected to develop language models

Twelve organisations, including Sarvam AI, Gnani AI, Fractal Analytics, and Tech Mahindra Maker’s Lab, have been selected to develop language models trained on Indian datasets. 

Vaishnaw added that investor sentiment remains strong, with over ₹20,000 crore in investments expected over the next one to two years. Despite logistical challenges, registrations for the summit have crossed three lakh, reflecting robust public enthusiasm for India’s AI push.