Indian IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday (November 6, 2023) reacted to a 'deepfake' video featuring actor Rashmika Mandanna and reminded social media platforms of their legal obligations to fight misinformation.

According to reports, the video in question originally featured social media influencer Zara Patel.

However, in the deepfake video, her face is changed to Rashmika Mandanna's.

The Minister wrote on X: "PM @narendramodi ji's Govt is committed to ensuring Safety and Trust of all DigitalNagriks using Internet."

The Minister said under the IT rules notified in April, 2023 - it is a legal obligation for platforms to ensure no misinformation is posted by any user and to remove it within 36 hours when reported by any user or government.

"If platforms do not comply wth this, rule 7 will apply and platforms can be taken to court by aggrieved person under provisions of IPC," the Minister wrote on X.

"Deep fakes are latest and even more dangerous and damaging form of misinformation and needs to be dealt with by platforms," he said.

Meanwhile, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan also reacted to the video and said the issue demands new legal measures.

What is deepfake?

According to Encyclopedia Britannica website, Deepfake, synthetic media, including images, videos, and audio, generated by artificial intelligence (AI) technology that portray something that does not exist in reality or events that have never occurred.

Who is Rashmika Mandanna?

Rashmika is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Telugu and Kannada films in addition to Tamil and Hindi films.

 She is a recipient of four SIIMA Awards and a Filmfare Award South.

Her most commercially successful films include Kirik Party (2016), Anjani Putra (2017), Yajamana (2019), Sarileru Neekevvaru (2020), Bheeshma (2020), Pogaru (2021), Pushpa: The Rise (2021), Sita Ramam (2022) and Varisu (2023).

She made her Hindi movie debut with 2022 movie Goodbye. The movie also featured Amitabh Bachchan.