The ECI directed all the political parties to promptly remove any such content within three hours of bringing it to their notice….reports Asian Lite News
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday warned the political parties against the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) based tools to create deepfakes, emphasising the need to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.
The ECI directed all the political parties to promptly remove any such content within three hours of bringing it to their notice.
Taking note of certain violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), the ECI issued fresh directions to the political parties for responsible and ethical use of social media in election campaigning “to ensure a level-playing field among all the stakeholders”.
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“The Commission once again directs with emphasis that all the political parties and their leaders must refrain from using in their campaigning any technological/AI-based tools which distorts information or spreads misinformation, which resultantly lowers the standards of electioneering,” the ECI said in a notification.
The parties have also been directed to “warn the person responsible in their party, reporting unlawful information and fake user accounts to respective platforms, and escalate persistent issues to the Grievance Appellate Committee under Rule 3A of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021”.
The other legal provisions include the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Indian Penal Code, and the framework of the twin acts namely the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951, and the provisions of the Model Code of Conduct.
Congress meets top cop over fake videos
A delegation from the Congress party, led by leaders including Pawan Khera, Supriya Shrinate and Devendra Yadav, met with Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora on Monday to address the issue of edited and fake videos circulating on social media handles amid ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
Expressing their concerns, the delegation said that there is continuous dissemination of manipulated videos and fake content through these platforms.
Yadav, the Chief of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC), emphasised the gravity of the situation and said: “We had also given a complaint regarding the same two days ago at Tughlak Road police station but there was no action from police officials there. We had shared the links of several posts. The videos and posts can be called hate speeches.”
Yadav further said that these objectionable handles have garnered a significant following, including members from prominent political parties.
“When there was no action for two days at the police station, we met CP and he assured us of action in the matter. We also told him about different posts on social media,” Yadav said.
Addressing reporters outside the police headquarters at Jai Singh Marg, Yadav said that the matter is of urgency and there is a need for swift action to curb the dissemination of inflammatory content.
According to the letter submitted by the delegation to CP, Delhi Police seems to be acting in a partisan and vindictive manner towards office-bearers of political parties other than the BJP.
“We personally experienced this when a Congress delegation, led by me, went to submit a complaint at the Tughlak Road Police Station against representatives of the Bharatiya Janata Party, individuals associated with the BJP, and other unknown individuals for spreading fake and distorted news during the ongoing Lok Sabha 2024 elections to mislead, incite, provoke the public and create enmity between groups, and thereby committing offences punishable under the Indian Penal code, 1860, Information Technology Act, 2000; Representation of the People Act, 1951 and other legal provisions,” the letter signed by Yadav read.
The letter claimed that Congress leaders along with the legal team were made to wait for two hours before accepting the complaint even though, they had busy schedules in view of the Lok Sabha elections as Congress is part of the INDIA bloc, and is contesting three Lok Sabha seats besides supporting our alliance candidates.
“Considering the seriousness of the situation, we request you to kindly issue necessary directions to the concerned officials of Tughlak Road Police Station to register an FIR in the above-mentioned matter in which we made a complaint on May 4, 2024,” it added.
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