By Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra

BENGALURU, Nov 24 (Reuters) – India’s authorities on Friday warned social media companies together with Facebook and YouTube to repeatedly remind customers that native legal guidelines prohibit them from posting deepfakes and content material that spreads obscenity or misinformation, two sources instructed Reuters.

The warning was conveyed by deputy IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a closed-door assembly the place he stated many corporations had not up to date their utilization phrases regardless of 2022 guidelines that prohibit content material “harmful” to kids, obscene or that “impersonates another person”.

It comes amid rising considerations over deepfakes – lifelike but fabricated movies created by synthetic intelligence (AI) algorithms skilled on on-line footage – with a high minister this week saying India is drawing up guidelines to handle the issue.

Chandrasekhar stated the businesses should elevate consciousness of the foundations by reminding customers each time they log in that they can’t publish such content material, or by issuing reminders.

He stated in any other case he’ll challenge instructions forcing them to take action, stated the 2 sources, who declined to be named because the assembly was personal.

The minister described it as a “non-negotiable” demand of the Indian authorities in the course of the assembly, stated one of many sources.

India’s IT ministry stated in a press assertion all platforms had agreed to align their content material tips with authorities guidelines.

Alphabet Inc’s YouTube, Facebook and Chandrasekhar didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The Indian authorities and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have raised considerations over deepfakes in latest days.

During a digital summit of G20 nations on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi known as on world leaders to collectively work in the direction of regulating AI, and raised considerations over the destructive impacts of deepfakes on society.

Countries the world over are racing to attract up guidelines to manage AI.

India has been tightening laws of social media corporations, which depend the South Asian nation as a high progress market.

Last yr, the federal government privately criticized the businesses for not eradicating what it described as pretend information on their websites, which it stated had pressured it to order content material takedowns. (Reporting by Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra)