Delhi High Court "trusts ECI to act" on deepfake videos during Lok Sabha elections

The Delhi High Court on Thursday refrained from passing any directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to stop the circulation of deepfake videos amid the Lok Sabha elections..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said that the Court cannot pass such directions during the elections and that it trusts that the Election Commission of India (ECI) will take appropriate action."Court cannot pass a direction in the middle of the election. Let's leave it to ECI. We trust them," the Bench remarked.Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta appeared for the petitioner and said that the ECI certifies any political advertisement meant for print and electronic media and a similar mechanism should be put in place for the content on social media as well.However, the Bench replied that it may be very difficult and politicians interact with people on the street or mohalla as well. "The suggestion you are making may not be appropriate. It is like saying when you go to address a political rally, they (politician) must take permission from the ECI. If you are travelling in the constituency obviously, a small group will stop you and you will speak to them," the Court remarked.It asked the petitioner to file a representation with the ECI which the poll body has to decide by May 6 and take appropriate steps.The ECI informed the Bench that the videos of Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh referred to in the petition have been taken down and criminal complaints have been filed as well.The Court then orally remarked that the accounts which are posting fake videos repeated must be acted against and their names should be put in public domain as well.The Court further remarked that ECI can also think of dynamic injunction so that retweets of the deepfake videos can also be disabled.However, the Court refused to pass any directions to ECI to formulate any guidelines. It said that it will not pass any such directions in the middle of the elections..The petition was filed by a lawyers' body named Lawyers' Voice seeking directions to the ECI to formulate and implement the necessary guidelines and "executive action necessary to address the public harm and democratic crisis caused by the pervasive use of deepfake technologies in political campaign for 2024 General Elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies". The PIL referred to the deepfake videos of Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, actors Ranveer Singh and Aamir Khan and said that such videos are spreading misinformation and should be taken down immediately. "The Petitioner submits that the utilization of deepfake technologies, along with the dissemination of misinformation on social media platforms and the internet, directly and significantly undermines the possibility of a free and fair election," the plea argued.