The Gujarat High Court has issued notices to technology firms including Meta, Google, X, Reddit and Scribd over a PIL petition seeking the formulation of a regulatory mechanism to curb the misuse of artificial intelligence (AI) in generating and circulating deepfake videos and photographs.
The court has issued the notices after the Union and Gujarat governments have informed it about frequent delays, repeated procedural obligations and instances of non-compliance by certain tech platforms to lawful notices issued to them, as per media reports.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D.N. Ray has issued the notices returnable on May 8. The bench has also directed the respondent intermediaries to ensure they are onboarded onto the Sahyog portal to enable better coordination and time-bound action for the takedown of unlawful content, in compliance with provisions under the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The court has noted that “effective and meaningful responses/action of the respondent intermediaries will be key to the due diligence obligations enforced upon them under the statutory framework.”
