Deepfake and the Law: Reassessing India’s Legal and Regulatory Framework

The advancement of AI has created a large amount of realistic digital data known as deepfakes, which fabricates digital content and makes it difficult for users to differentiate between real and artificial content. While deepfakes can impact both legitimate and illegitimate use, their malicious use has emerged as a rapidly growing concern, including cyber harassment, non- consensual pornography, and fraudulent identity representation, which violates individual’s personal liberty through unauthorised access to content such as audio, video, text, etc. This paper aims to critically examine national and international frameworks in dealing with the challenges faced by deepfake technology. The analysis examines constitutional protection given by the fundamental law of the country under relevant provisions, including Article 21 of the Constitution, the Information Technology Act 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023. It further focuses on judicial interpretation in understanding the intricacies of deepfake technology. Legal gaps have also contributed to jurisdictional difficulties in cross-border issues due to ineffective and victim- centric remedies. The existing legal approach primarily addresses the consequences rather than the distinctive nature, which leads to insufficient protection. The paper focuses on technology-oriented responses with regulatory insertion of an appropriate legal system for tracking the threat instantly and enhancing intermediary liabilities, consent, and disclosure requirements by maintaining a balance between freedom of speech and legitimate use of AI.