The Congress on Thursday claimed that nine artificial intelligence-generated videos posted by the party on social media had been taken down in the past six weeks at the direction of the Centre and the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled state governments.
Speaking at a press conference, Congress leader Supriya Shrinate accused the Union government of censoring satirical content created using AI without providing any reasons.
Shrinate did not specify when the videos were posted and on which platforms.
She said that the videos were about the concerns the party had been raising from the “streets to Parliament”, including the allegations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “compromised India’s national interest” while pursuing a trade deal with the United States and that New Delhi halted the purchase of Russian oil under American pressure.
Shrinate claimed that orders to take down the content had been issued by police in BJP-ruled states such as Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
The orders were issued under the Information Technology Act sections 69A and 79(3)(b), she claimed.
Section 69A empowers the Union government to direct intermediaries to block public access to online content in the interest of sovereignty, security of the state or public order, or to prevent incitement to offences.
Section 79(3)(b) removes the “safe harbour” protection available to intermediaries if they fail to remove unlawful content upon receiving government direction.
Shrinate added that some orders cited provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to criminal defamation and statements conducing to public mischief.
The Congress alleged that these provisions were being “blatantly misused” by the BJP against its political opponents.
“At least tell us what was illegal in these videos,” Shrinate said. “Tell us what we said wrong…such acts of issuing take-down orders happen under authoritarian regimes…they are not indicative of a democracy.”
She added that the videos posted by the party carried disclaimers stating that they were AI-generated and were not “misleading”.
“If the videos carry the disclaimer of AI-generated, why is there fear?” she said. “If there is a problem with AI then why are you organising such a big AI summit.”
Her remarks came as the India AI Impact Summit was underway in New Delhi. The summit, which began on Monday and will conclude on Friday, is being promoted as the first major gathering on artificial intelligence in the Global South. Twenty world leaders, officials from major technology companies and exhibitors from 30 countries are attending the event.
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