The Delhi High Court on Thursday reposed its trust in the Election Commission of India (ECI) to deal with the issue of deepfake technologies being used in the Lok Sabha poll campaign, saying it cannot devise a policy in the middle of elections.

 The high court directed a lawyers’ organisation to give a representation to the ECI on its plea seeking directions to the poll panel for formulation of guidelines to prevent the misuse of deepfake videos. The court also asked the ECI to expeditiously decide by May 6 the representation to be given by the petitioner, keeping in mind the urgency of the issue involved.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora disposed of the petition, saying it cannot devise a policy in the middle of elections. The court said only the methodology has changed and previously also rumours used to be spread about politicians. To this, the petitioner’s counsel responded that deepfake content is a lot more vicious and faster.

The court said it trusts the ECI, which is a constitutional body, to act on the matter. “We can’t devise a policy today in the midst of elections. Once it is entrusted with the ECI, the court’s interdiction at this stage will not be proper. At this moment, courts will not give any direction. You’ll have to live with it. All of this is to be done before the elections. At the 11th hour, courts cannot interfere,” the bench said.

“At this moment it will not be proper for the court to intervene with the jurisdiction of the ECI. Let us trust the ECI,” it said.The court was hearing a plea by Lawyer’s Voice, an organisation seeking directions to the ECI to formulate and implement the necessary guidelines and/or executive action which was necessary to address the public harm and democratic crisis caused by the pervasive use of deepfake technologies in the 2024 election campaign.

The plea also sought a direction to several social media platforms to take down and block deepfake content or those concerning political candidates or public figures on their respective platforms until the declaration of poll results.

 During the hearing, the counsel for the ECI submitted that in case a comprehensive representation is filed by the petitioner with the commission, it will be decided in accordance with law on or before May 6 and that any appropriate steps which have to be taken, shall also be taken by them.

The ECI counsel also informed the court that the deepfake videos of Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, actors Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh, as referred to in the petition, have been taken down and criminal complaints have been filed and the accounts from which the videos were posted have been disabled.  To this, the bench said that the accounts which are repeatedly posting fake videos must be acted against and their names should also be put in public domain.