Deepfake Technology

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s cyberspace watchdog, is rolling out new regulations to restrict the use of deep synthesis technology and curb disinformation.

• Deep synthesis is defined as the use of technologies including deep learning and augmented reality to generate text, images, audio/video and create virtual scenes.

About Deepfake: It is a type of synthetic media in which a person in an already-existing video or image is replaced with another person

• It manipulates the audio/video, which has the propensity to deceive, using machine learning and artificial intelligence.
• It makes a fake version of original or real audio-visual content by superimposing new audio or image over an existing media file.

Significance/Impacts: In the era of the threat of fake news, it poses a threat to the security of cyber systems and the validity of online information.

• Any genuine evidence of a crime can be easily discounted as false.
• In India, however, there are no legal rules against using deepfake technology.
• However, specific laws can be addressed for misusing the tech, which include Copyright Violation, Defamation and cyber felonies.