UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — HC to hear Gadkari plea on deepfake posts on August 5
Q1. Consider the following statements comparing the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 as originally notified with their subsequent amendment:
1. As originally notified, the Rules required an intermediary's Grievance Officer to acknowledge a complaint within twenty-four hours and dispose of it within fifteen days of receipt.
2. The amendment reduced, from fifteen days to seventy-two hours, the time for acting on complaints seeking removal of specified categories of prohibited content.
3. The amendment set up Grievance Appellate Committees to hear appeals filed by publishers of online curated content against orders of the self-regulatory bodies of publishers.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- As originally notified, the Rules required an intermediary's Grievance Officer to acknowledge a complaint within twenty-four hours and dispose of it within fifteen days of receipt.
- The amendment reduced, from fifteen days to seventy-two hours, the time for acting on complaints seeking removal of specified categories of prohibited content.
- The amendment set up Grievance Appellate Committees to hear appeals filed by publishers of online curated content against orders of the self-regulatory bodies of publishers.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q2. Which one of the following correctly describes a 'significant social media intermediary' for the purposes of the IT Rules, 2021?
- A. A social media intermediary whose number of registered users in India exceeds the threshold of fifty lakh notified by the central government
- B. A social media intermediary whose annual turnover from Indian operations exceeds the threshold of five hundred crore rupees notified by the central government
- C. A social media intermediary whose registered users worldwide exceed the threshold of fifty crore notified by the central government
- D. A social media intermediary that carries paid political advertising and is registered with the Election Commission of India
Q3. Under the amendments to the IT Rules, 2021 dealing with synthetically generated information, certain categories of computer-assisted content are treated as not attracting the synthetic-content disclosure requirement. Consider the following:
1. Routine editing of a photograph using standard colour-correction filters
2. Machine transcription of a recorded speech into text
3. Charts and diagrams generated by an AI tool from an underlying dataset
4. A face-swap video that places a public figure's face and voice into a fabricated statement
Which of the above is/are NOT covered by the exemption from the disclosure requirement?
- Routine editing of a photograph using standard colour-correction filters
- Machine transcription of a recorded speech into text
- Charts and diagrams generated by an AI tool from an underlying dataset
- A face-swap video that places a public figure's face and voice into a fabricated statement
- A. 1 and 3
- B. 2 and 4
- C. 1, 2 and 4
- D. 4 only
Q4. The obligation on platforms to label synthetically generated information, and the consequent risk to their statutory immunity, has been created by amending which one of the following instruments?
- A. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, framed under the Information Technology Act, 2000
- B. The Digital Personal Data Protection Rules framed under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, on notice and consent
- C. The Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, framed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995
- D. The directions of 2022 on cyber security incident reporting issued under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000
Q5. In the suit filed before the Bombay High Court, several defendants are described as 'unknown persons'. Such impleadment, commonly called a John Doe (or Ashok Kumar) action, means which one of the following?
- A. Relief is sought against unidentified wrongdoers, so that orders can operate against persons whose identity is ascertained later
- B. Relief is sought against every intermediary operating in India, since anonymous accounts can never be traced to any identifiable person
- C. Proceedings are conducted entirely in camera, and the identity of the plaintiff is permanently withheld from all defendants
- D. The court appoints an officer to represent the entire class of internet users, whose consent binds all of them absolutely
Q6. Apart from judicial remedies, the executive framework that requires platforms hosting deepfake content to observe due diligence and to label synthetic content is notified and administered by which one of the following?
- A. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- B. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
- C. Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs
- D. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Department of Telecommunications
Q7. Where defamation is prosecuted as a criminal offence in India today, what is the maximum term of simple imprisonment that may be imposed?
- A. One year
- B. Two years
- C. Three years
- D. Seven years
Q8. Following the replacement of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the offence of defamation is now contained in which provision?
- A. Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
- B. Section 351 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023
- C. Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
- D. Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000
Q9. The principal body through which the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways develops and maintains national highways was constituted under which one of the following?
- A. The National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988
- B. The National Highways Act, 1956
- C. The Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002
- D. The Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
Q10. Bharatmala Pariyojana is best described as which one of the following?
- A. An umbrella road development programme approved in 2017 covering about 34,800 km, most of it built by the National Highways Authority of India
- B. A port-led development programme approved in 2015 covering modernisation of major ports and their hinterland rail and road connectivity
- C. A programme approved in 2016 for replacing level crossings on national highways with railway over-bridges and under-bridges
- D. A multi-modal connectivity master plan approved in 2021 that digitally integrates infrastructure projects of sixteen union ministries
Q11. In discussions on the Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme, the expression 'flex fuel vehicle' denotes which one of the following?
- A. A vehicle whose engine is designed to run on petrol-ethanol blends of widely varying proportions rather than on one fixed blend
- B. A vehicle fitted with two separate fuel systems, allowing the driver to switch between compressed natural gas and petrol as required
- C. A vehicle combining an internal combustion engine with an electric motor, in which the battery is charged by regenerative braking
- D. A heavy-duty vehicle running on ethanol-based diesel substitute fuel with an ignition improver added to the ethanol
Q12. The 'right of publicity', as recognised by Indian courts within the wider bundle of personality rights, is best understood as which one of the following?
- A. The right of a person to control commercial exploitation of attributes such as name, image, voice and persona, built by courts in the absence of a dedicated statute
- B. The right of a person to restrain publication of any material concerning them, including truthful reporting on matters of public interest, once objection is raised
- C. A right expressly conferred on every individual by the Copyright Act, 1957 over photographs and recordings in which their likeness or voice appears
- D. The right of a performer to receive royalties whenever a recording of their performance is broadcast or communicated to the public