The Regulation of Deepfakes in India: Balancing Innovation, Privacy, and Freedom of Expression

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of generative artificial intelligence has made synthetic manipulation of audio, image, and video “deepfake” technology a mainstream capability. India, with over 900 million internet users and a culture in which the image of public figures carries substantial commercial and political value, is a high-stakes environment for this technology. This paper traces India’s regulatory response, from the residual application of general criminal and cyber law, through judge-made personality-rights jurisprudence, to the Information Technology Amendment Rules notified in February 2026. It situates this evolution within the constitutional triangle of free expression, privacy, and trade, and compares it with the EU AI Act and the US TAKE IT DOWN Act. It is argued that despite the fact that India’s legislation is technically sound, it suffers from having definitions that are too wide-ranging, someone can make too many decisions by using excessive executive power, access to remedies is unequal and forensic capabilities are weak, while suggestions include the implementation of a dedicated law that differentiates between the risk levels.