Union Minister for Data and Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Thursday, talking on the Digital Information Publishers Affiliation (DNPA) Conclave 2026, flagged the escalating menace of deepfakes and coordinated disinformation campaigns. He burdened that public belief worldwide is in danger and mentioned digital platforms should take accountability for the content material they host.
Vaishnaw highlighted that speedy technological development has made it attainable to supply and disseminate manipulated content material on an unprecedented scale.
He emphasised that in in the present day’s world, the basic precept of belief is more and more in danger, noting that misinformation has shifted from being remoted incidents to a widespread, systemic downside, reported Hindustan Occasions.
“The menace is coming from so many alternative angles – deepfakes – which may make you imagine issues which have by no means occurred anyway,” Vaishnaw mentioned. He warned about ongoing misinformation campaigns that manipulate public notion, saying, “disinformation barrage – which may trigger a way of mistrust that doesn’t exist in actual life.”
He raised the priority involving the creation of fabricated digital materials of individuals. “Creating synthetically generated photos of individuals effectively revered in society, creating movies which have completely no correlation with actuality,” he mentioned.
‘Time has come to make that large inflectional change’
Based on the minister, digital platforms should recognise the important position they play in upholding belief in establishments which have been constructed over millennia. He mentioned that platforms are accountable for the content material they host and for guaranteeing the web security of youngsters and all customers.
He warned that failure to fulfil these obligations would make platforms accountable, highlighting that the web has developed and its influence on society has grown considerably.
He additionally mirrored on the significance of regulating AI-generated content material, saying that such materials shouldn’t be created with out the consent of the person whose face, voice, or persona is used.
“The time has come to make that large inflectional change. I request the platforms to cooperate with this human society’s primary wants. The society which is in the present day asking for this transformation needs to be revered,” Vaishnaw mentioned, reported PTI.
He mentioned that human society depends on belief in establishments—from household and social id to the judiciary, media, and legislature—all of which operate based mostly on the basic precept of belief.
Citing the media for example, the minister defined that its credibility will depend on impartiality, cautious verification of data earlier than publication, and accountability for the content material it produces.
He added that each establishment created by people operates on the identical primary ideas, with mutual belief forming the inspiration of their functioning. Nevertheless, he cautioned that in in the present day’s quickly altering world, this elementary belief is more and more in danger, notably resulting from rising applied sciences like deepfakes, which may lead individuals to imagine occasions that by no means truly occurred.
What’s DNPA occasion?
The DNPA occasion is designed to unite policymakers, media executives, and business consultants to discover the most recent tendencies in digital journalism and synthetic intelligence.
The discussions are anticipated to cowl regulatory frameworks, newsroom transformation, methods for content material monetisation, and the broader financial panorama of digital publishing in an AI-driven period.
Mariam Mammen Mathew, Chairperson of the DNPA, mentioned that with AI basically reshaping the information business, it’s important for publishers, policymakers, and platforms to collaborate in making a framework grounded in belief and accountability.
