Deepfakes: ShareChat aligns content policy with IT Rules, highlights legal ramifications for violations

ShareChat is an Indian social networking service platform, owned by Bangalore-based Mohalla Tech

To address the rising threat of deepfakes, homegrown social media platform ShareChat has updated its policy to align with the Indian government's request of outlining content that users are not allowed to publish under the Information Technology (IT) Rules.

ShareChat has updated its Content Policy, to list out content -- as specified under Rule 3 (1) (b) of the IT Rules -- such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM), pornography, impersonation, misinformation etc, are prohibited for users to publish on the platform.

To be clear, content such as CSAM and pornography were already prohibited on the platform, and violation of such guidelines attracted penalties in the form of temporary account suspension or permanently being blocked.

Now, ShareChat warns that publication of such content which are also prohibited under IT Rules, may warrant legal actions. "...you may also incur personal, civil and criminal liability from individuals /regulators/legal authorities for such violations," said the  policy.

The 'last update' section of the website states that the policy was updated on January 9. ShareChat declined to comment on the matter, when reached out.

This change in the policy comes after Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sent multiple advisories to the industry and held meetings with platforms on tackling deepfakes. The ministry has maintained that deepfakes and other AI-generated misinformation fall under the ambit of the IT Rules.

In these meetings and advisories, MeitY had urged platforms to comply with IT Rules, and specifically mentioned that platforms must communicate to users the type of content that are not permitted under the regulation.

For instance, in the last advisory sent by MeitY to platforms on December 26, the advisory said, "The content not permitted under the IT Rules, in particular those listed under Rule 3(1)(b) must be clearly communicated to the users in clear and precise language including through its terms of service and user agreements..."

In the updated policy, ShareChat, apart from listing out the content that are prohibited under the IT Rules, has also listed out the corresponding provisions of penal actions that can be applicable on users for publishing such content.

For instance, ShareChat warned that if someone posts content that 'infringe on someone else's rights' then the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act can be applicable on the user. Similarly if someone 'intentionally communicates misinformation', then Sec 177, 465, 459 and 505 of the Indian Penal Code can be applicable on such users.

If CSAM, pornographic content or gambling-related content are uploaded, ShareChat pointed out that users can attract Sections of IPC, POCSO, PMLA and IT Act.

Moneycontrol has also reached out to Big Tech firms such as Meta and Google with queries on whether they too have updated their policies to comply with the directions of the Indian government. The article will be updated when a response is received.