Technology, Media and Telecom

Recent conflicts between India and Pakistan and subsequent geopolitical tensions have seen ripple effects extend into the business ecosystem, especially for IT and digital services sectors.  Multinational IT firms and global companies, specifically those involving service provisioning and delivery through India or Pakistan based entities, have been exposed to greater regulatory scrutiny.

The issue of deepfakes took centre stage in the Indian media recently, when a deepfake video of a celebrity went viral on social media. The video was created without the consent of the celebrity whose face was morphed replacing the person who originally featured in it.

With the intent to grant greater control over personal data and maintain a balance between the protection of privacy and data-driven innovations, India enacted the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDPA) in August 2023. The government is also likely to notify rules prescribing specific compliances under the DPDPA over the next few months. With this background, here are five key steps that over the top (OTT) and content streaming platforms should proactively consider to ensure compliance with the DPDPA.