A Battle Against the Unsavoury: A New Code of Conduct Introduced by the IIGC
Introduction
Since the inception of the Internet and social media platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, etc., the government and various other stakeholders in both foreign jurisdictions and India have looked towards the intermediaries to assume responsibility for the content floated on these platforms, and various legal provisions showcase that responsibility. For the first time in many years, these intermediaries come together to moderate the content by setting a standard for the creators and propagators of this content. The influencer marketing industry in India is at a crucial juncture, with its market value projected to exceed Rs. 3,375 crore by 2026. But every industry is coupled with its complications; like in this scenario, there is a section of content creators who fail to maintain the standard of integrity and propagate content that raises concerns of authenticity and transparency, often violating intellectual property rights (IPR) and privacy.
As influencer marketing continues to shape digital consumption, the need for ethical and transparent content grows stronger. To address this, the India Influencer Governing Council (IIGC) has released its Code of Standards, aiming to bring accountability and structure to the fast-evolving online space.
Bringing Accountability to the Digital Fame Game
The India Influencer Governing Council (IIGC), established on 15th February, 2025, is founded with the objective to empower creators, advocate for fair policies, and promote responsible content creation. The IIGC releases the Code of Standard, not a moment too soon; it arrives just in time, a necessary safeguard before social media devolves into a chaotic marketplace where anything and everything is up for grabs. Without effective regulation, digital platforms become the marketplace for misinformation and exploitation.
The IIGC leads the movement with clarity, stating that the Code is a significant piece that spans across 20 crucial sections governing key areas such as paid partnership disclosures, AI-generated personas, content safety, and financial compliance.
Highlights from the Code of Standard
- The Code exhibits a technical understanding of the industry of content creation and influencer marketing. The preliminary sections advocate for accuracy, transparency, and maintaining credibility with the audience that engages with the content. Secondly, the most fundamental development is with regard to the “Paid Partnership Disclosure” included in Section 2 of the Code that mandates disclosure of any material connection, such as financial agreements or collaboration with the brand.
- Another development, which potently comes at a befitting hour, is the disclosure of “AI Influencers”, which establishes that the nature of the influencer has to be disclosed, and such influencers, whether fully virtual or partially AI-enhanced, must maintain the same standards as any human influencer.
- The code ranges across various other aspects of influencer marketing, such as expressing unpaid “Admiration” for the brand and public criticism of the brand, being free from personal bias, honouring financial agreements, non-discrimination, and various other standards that set the stage for a safe and fair digital sphere.
- The Code also necessitates that the platform users and the influencers handle sexual and sensitive content with sincere deliberation, and usage of such content shall be for educational and health-related contexts and must not be used against community standards. The Code includes various other standards that work towards making digital platforms safer for younger generations and impressionable minds.
A Code Without Claws? Challenges in Enforcement
The biggest obstacle to the effective implementation of the code is distinguishing between an honest promotion and a paid brand collaboration without any explicit mention of such an agreement. This makes influencer marketing susceptible to manipulation, and the manipulation cannot be tackled with a straitjacket formula, as it might be found in the form of exaggerated claims or omission of critical information.
Another hurdle is the voluntary compliance of the influencers with the advertising standards. Influencer marketing is an exercise in a borderless digital cyberspace, where the influencers often disregard the dignified standards to maximise their earnings and commercial motives.
The debate between self-regulation and government oversight is constantly churning, where experience tells us that overreliance on self-regulation has proven to be inadequate, and succinct regulatory oversight is imperative in light of social media platforms operating as a transnational commercial marketplace.
CyberPeace Recommendations
- Introduction of a licensing framework for influencers that fall into the “highly followed” category with high engagement, who are more likely to shape the audience’s views.
- Usage of technology to align ethical standards with influencer marketing practices, ensuring that misleading advertisements do not find a platform to deceive innocent individuals.
- Educating the audience or consumers on the internet about the ramifications of negligence and their rights in the digital marketplace. Ensuring a well-established grievance redressal mechanism via digital regulatory bodies.
- Continuous and consistent collaboration and cooperation between influencers, brands, regulators, and consumers to establish an understanding and foster transparency and a unified objective to curb deceptive advertising practices.
References
- https://iigc.org/code-of-standards/influencers/code-of-standards-v1-april.pdf
- https://legalonus.com/the-impact-of-influencer-marketing-on-consumer-rights-and-false-advertising/
- https://exhibit.social/news/india-influencer-governing-council-iigc-launched-to-shape-the-future-of-influencer-marketing/
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Introduction
In today's era of digitalised community and connections, social media has become an integral part of our lives. we use social media to connect with our friends and family, and social media is also used for business purposes. Social media offers us numerous opportunities and ease to connect and communicate with larger communities. While it also poses some challenges, while we use social media, we come across issues such as inappropriate content, online harassment, online stalking, account hacking, misuse of personal information or data, privacy issues, fake accounts, Intellectual property violation issues, abusive and dishearted content, content against the terms and condition policy of the platform and more. To deal with such issues, social media entities have proper reporting mechanisms and set terms and conditions guidelines to effectively prevent such issues and by addressing them in the best possible way by platform help centre or reporting mechanism.
The Role of Help Centers in Resolving User Complaints:
The help centres are established on platforms to address user complaints and provide satisfactory assistance or resolution. Addressing user complaints is a key component of maintaining a safe and secure digital environment for users. Platform-centric help centres play a vital role in providing users with a resource to seek assistance and report their issues.
Some common issues reported on social media:
- Reporting abusive content: Users can report content that they find abusive, offensive, or in violation of platform policies. These reports are reviewed by the help centre.
- Reporting CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material): CSAM content can be reported to platform help centre. Social media platforms have stringent policies in place to address such concerns and ensure a safe digital environment for everyone, including children.
- Reporting Misinformation or Fake News: With the proliferation of misinformation online, users can report content that they find or suspect misleading or false information and Fact-checking bodies are employed to assess the accuracy of reported content.
- Content violating intellectual property rights: If there is a violation or infringement of any intellectual property work, it can be reported on the platform.
- Violence of commercial policies: Products listed on social media platforms are also needed to comply with the platform’s Commercial Policies.
Submitting a Complaint to the Indian Grievance Officer for Facebook:
A user can report his issue through the below-mentioned websites:
The user can go to the Facebook Help Center, where go to the "Reporting a Problem” section, then by clicking on Reporting a Problem, Choose the Appropriate Issue that best describes your complaint. For example, if you have encountered inappropriate or abusive content, select the ‘I found inappropriate or abusive content’ option.
Here is a list of issues which you can report on Facebook:
- My account has been hacked.
- I've lost access to a page or a group I used to manage.
- I've found a fake profile or a profile that's pretending to be me.
- I am being bullied or harassed.
- I found inappropriate or abusive content.
- I want to report content showing me in nudity/partial nudity or in a sexual act.
- I (or someone I am legally responsible for) appear in content that I do not want to be displayed.
- I am a law enforcement official seeking to access user data.
- I am a government official or a court officer seeking to submit an order, notice or direction.
- I want to download my personal data or report an issue with how Facebook is processing my data.
- I want to report an Intellectual Property infringement.
- I want to report another issue.
Then, describe your issues and attach supporting evidence such as screenshots, then submit your report. After submitting a report, you will receive a confirmation that your report has been submitted to the platform. The platform will review the complaint within the stipulated time period, and users can also check the status of their filed complaint. Appropriate action will be taken by platforms after reviewing such complaints. If it violates any standard policy, terms & conditions, or privacy policies of the platform, the platform will take down that content or will take any other appropriate action.
Conclusion:
It is important to be aware of your rights in a digital landscape and report such issues to the platform. It is essential to understand how to report your issues or grievances on social media platforms effectively. By using the help centre or reporting mechanism of the platform, users can effectively file their complaints on the platform and contribute to a safer and more responsible online environment. Social media platforms have their compliance framework and privacy and policy guidelines in place to ensure the compliance framework for community standards and legal requirements. So, whenever you encounter an issue on social media, report it on the platform and contribute to a safer digital environment on social media platforms.
References:
- https://www.cyberyodha.org/2023/09/how-to-submit-complaint-to-indian.html
- https://transparency.fb.com/en-gb/enforcement/taking-action/complaints-handling-process/
- https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/278770247037228
- https://www.facebook.com/help/263149623790594
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Introduction
The Indian Cabinet has approved a comprehensive national-level IndiaAI Mission with a budget outlay ofRs.10,371.92 crore. The mission aims to strengthen the Indian AI innovation ecosystem by democratizing computing access, improving data quality, developing indigenous AI capabilities, attracting top AI talent, enabling industry collaboration, providing startup risk capital, ensuring socially-impactful A projects, and bolstering ethical AI. The mission will be implemented by the'IndiaAI' Independent Business Division (IBD) under the Digital India Corporation (DIC) and consists of several components such as IndiaAI Compute Capacity, IndiaAI Innovation Centre (IAIC), IndiaAI Datasets Platform, India AI Application Development Initiative, IndiaAI Future Skills, IndiaAI Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI over the next 5 years.
This financial outlay is intended to befulfilled through a public-private partnership model, to ensure a structured implementation of the IndiaAI Mission. The main objective is to create and nurture an ecosystem for India’s AI innovation. This mission is intended to act as a catalyst for shaping the future of AI for India and the world. AI has the potential to become an active enabler of the digital economy and the Indian government aims to harness its full potential to benefit its citizens and drive the growth of its economy.
Key Objectives of India's AI Mission
● With the advancements in data collection, processing and computational power, intelligent systems can be deployed in varied tasks and decision-making to enable better connectivity and enhance productivity.
● India’s AI Mission will concentrate on benefiting India and addressing societal needs in primary areas of healthcare, education, agriculture, smart cities and infrastructure, including smart mobility and transportation.
● This mission will work with extensive academia-industry interactions to ensure the development of core research capability at the national level. This initiative will involve international collaborations and efforts to advance technological frontiers by generating new knowledge and developing and implementing innovative applications.
The strategies developed for implementing the IndiaAI Mission are via Public-Private Partnerships, Skilling initiatives and AI Policy and Regulation. An example of the work towards the public-private partnership is the pre-bid meeting that the IT Ministry hosted on 29th August2024, which saw industrial participation from Nvidia, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud and Palo Alto Networks.
Components of IndiaAI Mission
The IndiaAI Compute Capacity: The IndiaAI Compute pillar will build a high-end scalable AI computing ecosystem to cater to India's rapidly expanding AI start-ups and research ecosystem. The ecosystem will comprise AI compute infrastructure of 10,000 or more GPUs, built through public-private partnerships. An AI marketplace will offer AI as a service and pre-trained models to AI innovators.
The IndiaAI Innovation Centre will undertake the development and deployment of indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) and domain-specific foundational models in critical sectors. The IndiaAI Datasets Platform will streamline access to quality on-personal datasets for AI innovation.
The IndiaAI Future Skills pillar will mitigate barriers to entry into AI programs and increase AI courses in undergraduate, master-level, and Ph.D. programs. Data and AI Labs will be set up in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India to impart foundational-level courses.
The IndiaAI Startup Financing pillar will support and accelerate deep-tech AI startups, providing streamlined access to funding for futuristic AI projects.
The Safe & Trusted AI pillar will enable the implementation of responsible AI projects and the development of indigenous tools and frameworks, self-assessment check lists for innovators, and other guidelines and governance frameworks by recognising the need for adequate guardrails to advance the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI.
CyberPeace Considerations for the IndiaAI Mission
● Data privacy and security are paramount as emerging privacy instruments aim to ensure ethical AI use. Addressing bias and fairness in AI remains a significant challenge, especially with poor-quality or tampered datasets that can lead to flawed decision-making, posing risks to fairness, privacy, and security.
● Geopolitical tensions and export control regulations restrict access to cutting-edge AI technologies and critical hardware, delaying progress and impacting data security. In India, where multilingualism and regional diversity are key characteristics, the unavailability of large, clean, and labeled datasets in Indic languages hampers the development of fair and robust AI models suited to the local context.
● Infrastructure and accessibility pose additional hurdles in India’s AI development. The country faces challenges in building computing capacity, with delays in procuring essential hardware, such as GPUs like Nvidia’s A100 chip, hindering businesses, particularly smaller firms. AI development relies heavily on robust cloud computing infrastructure, which remains in its infancy in India. While initiatives like AIRAWAT signal progress, significant gaps persist in scaling AI infrastructure. Furthermore, the scarcity of skilled AI professionals is a pressing concern, alongside the high costs of implementing AI in industries like manufacturing. Finally, the growing computational demands of AI lead to increased energy consumption and environmental impact, raising concerns about balancing AI growth with sustainable practices.
Conclusion
We advocate for ethical and responsible AI development adoption to ensure ethical usage, safeguard privacy, and promote transparency. By setting clear guidelines and standards, the nation would be able to harness AI's potential while mitigating risks and fostering trust. The IndiaAI Mission will propel innovation, build domestic capacities, create highly-skilled employment opportunities, and demonstrate how transformative technology can be used for social good and enhance global competitiveness.
References
● https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2012375
Executive Summary:
A misleading video of a child covered in ash allegedly circulating as the evidence for attacks against Hindu minorities in Bangladesh. However, the investigation revealed that the video is actually from Gaza, Palestine, and was filmed following an Israeli airstrike in July 2024. The claim linking the video to Bangladesh is false and misleading.
Claims:
A viral video claims to show a child in Bangladesh covered in ash as evidence of attacks on Hindu minorities.
Fact Check:
Upon receiving the viral posts, we conducted a Google Lens search on keyframes of the video, which led us to a X post posted by Quds News Network. The report identified the video as footage from Gaza, Palestine, specifically capturing the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in July 2024.
The caption of the post reads, “Journalist Hani Mahmoud reports on the deadly Israeli attack yesterday which targeted a UN school in Nuseirat, killing at least 17 people who were sheltering inside and injuring many more.”
To further verify, we examined the video footage where the watermark of Al Jazeera News media could be seen, We found the same post posted on the Instagram account on 14 July, 2024 where we confirmed that the child in the video had survived a massacre caused by the Israeli airstrike on a school shelter in Gaza.
Additionally, we found the same video uploaded to CBS News' YouTube channel, where it was clearly captioned as "Video captures aftermath of Israeli airstrike in Gaza", further confirming its true origin.
We found no credible reports or evidence were found linking this video to any incidents in Bangladesh. This clearly implies that the viral video was falsely attributed to Bangladesh.
Conclusion:
The video circulating on social media which shows a child covered in ash as the evidence of attack against Hindu minorities is false and misleading. The investigation leads that the video originally originated from Gaza, Palestine and documents the aftermath of an Israeli air strike in July 2024.
- Claims: A video shows a child in Bangladesh covered in ash as evidence of attacks on Hindu minorities.
- Claimed by: Facebook
- Fact Check: False & Misleading
