BENGALURU, Oct 22 (Reuters) - India's government on

Wednesday proposed new legal obligations for artificial

intelligence and social media firms to tackle a growing

proliferation of deepfakes online, by mandating them to label

such content as AI-generated.

The potential for misuse of generative AI tools "to cause

user harm, spread misinformation, manipulate elections, or

impersonate individuals has grown significantly," India's IT

ministry said in a press release, explaining the rationale

behind the move.

The proposed rules mandate social media companies to

require their users to declare if they are uploading deepfake

content.

With nearly 1 billion internet users, the stakes are high in

a sprawling country of many ethnic and religious communities

where fake news risks stirring up deadly strife and AI deepfake

videos have alarmed officials during elections.