Parliamentary Panel Presses for Licensing, Labels, and Laws to Fight AI Fake News

India's Parliament Panel Targets AI-Driven Fake News: What PR and Communications Teams Need to Do Now

A parliamentary committee has urged the government to build concrete legal and technological tools to identify and prosecute those behind AI-generated fake news. The draft report from the Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology calls for a balanced approach: use AI to flag misinformation, then rely on human review for final decisions.

The report has been submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker and is set to be tabled in the next session. While not binding, such recommendations often guide policy and industry practice.

What the Draft Report Proposes

• Inter-ministerial coordination: Closer collaboration between the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, MeitY, and other departments to craft legal and tech solutions for tracing and prosecuting creators of AI-driven fake news.
• Licensing and labeling: Explore licensing requirements for AI content creators and mandate labeling of AI-generated videos and content.
• Human-in-the-loop: AI can flag potentially fake or misleading content; human reviewers make the final call.
• Media accountability: Mandatory fact-checking mechanisms and an internal ombudsman in all print, digital, and electronic media organisations.
• Stronger penalties: Amend penal provisions, raise fines, and fix accountability to deter misuse.
• Deepfake focus: MeitY has set up a nine-member panel on deepfakes and is funding projects for fake speech detection and deepfake video/image detection.

Implications for PR and Communications Leaders

Policies and compliance expectations are tightening. Treat AI disclosures, provenance, and verification as core parts of your comms stack.

• Prepare for labeling rules: Label AI-generated or AI-edited assets across press releases, blogs, videos, and social posts. Standardize where labels appear and how they're worded.
• Build an AI usage policy: Document approved tools, acceptable use, prohibited prompts, and red lines (e.g., synthetic likeness of real individuals without consent). Maintain an internal registry of AI use in all campaigns.
• Human review is mandatory: Implement a second-layer fact-check for any content touched by AI. Define approver roles, response SLAs, and escalation paths for high-risk narratives.
• Anticipate licensing: If licensing for AI creators becomes reality, track which agencies, freelancers, and internal teams use AI and ensure contracts reflect compliance obligations.
• Strengthen media workflows: Many publishers may require proof of verification. Provide source documentation, timestamps, and claims substantiation with every pitch.
• Adopt provenance standards: Use watermarking or content credentials (e.g., C2PA) to prove origin and edit history of assets. This reduces disputes and speeds takedowns of manipulated content. Learn about C2PA.
• Deepfake incident playbook: Build a rapid response plan: detection tools, spokesperson protocols, legal coordination, pre-approved statements, and a verification microsite. Time-to-respond is brand equity.
• Evidence and audit trails: Keep logs of drafts, prompts, data sources, approvals, and publishing timestamps. You'll need this if regulators or platforms request proof.
• Vendor due diligence: Evaluate monitoring, detection, and fact-check partners. Ask about model accuracy, bias testing, false-positive management, and data privacy.
• Train your team: Upskill PR and social teams on AI risk, disclosure norms, deepfake detection, and verification techniques. Treat this like media training-recurring and measurable.

Why "Human-in-the-Loop" Matters

The committee noted that AI systems pull from pre-existing data and aren't reliable for final fact-checking. They're useful for surfacing suspicious claims or assets, but editorial judgment should stay with trained professionals.

Operational takeaway: Use AI to prioritize and triage; reserve approvals for experienced editors and legal counsel. This reduces false positives and prevents over-reliance on tools that can be gamed.

Compliance Checklist You Can Use Now

• Label AI-involved content and log it in a central registry.
• Add provenance data or watermarks to visuals and video.
• Route high-risk claims through legal and policy review.
• Require vendors to disclose AI use and provide proof of compliance.
• Deploy social listening plus deepfake detection for brand mentions and executive likenesses.
• Run quarterly crisis simulations focused on synthetic media scenarios.
• Document consent for any synthetic voices, images, or likenesses.

What to Watch Next

• Parliament's consideration of the draft report and any movement on licensing and labeling mandates.
• Guidelines or standards from MeitY and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on AI disclosures, provenance, and enforcement.
• Industry codes of practice from press bodies and platforms that may pre-empt regulation.
• Outcomes from government-backed projects on fake speech and deepfake detection, and how platforms adopt them.

If you need structured upskilling to meet new compliance and disclosure standards, explore practical AI courses for marketing and PR teams here: AI Certification for Marketing Specialists.

For primary policy context and updates, monitor MeitY. Expect more clarity on licensing, labeling, and accountability mechanisms as the draft report moves through the process.