India
oi-Swastika Sruti
In the latest development, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has introduced stricter compliance rules for social media platforms, significantly reducing the time available to remove unlawful content.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has revised IT Rules, shortening the takedown window for unlawful content to 3 hours and requiring clear identification and traceability for AI-generated materials like deepfakes.
Under the revised Information Technology (IT) Rules, intermediaries must now take down unlawful information within three hours of receiving a valid notice from the government or a court, instead of the earlier 36-hour deadline.
Just Three Hours Ultimatum
Earlier, social media companies had up to 36 hours to act on valid takedown notices. Under the new rules, they must remove the content within three hours, ensuring a much faster response to unlawful material. The move is expected to help limit the rapid spread of harmful or illegal content across digital platforms.
The government has also introduced stricter norms for AI-generated content, including deepfake videos and images.
Under the revised rules, social media platforms must ensure that permissible AI-generated content carries clear labels and traceable metadata so users can easily identify that it has been created or altered using artificial intelligence.
Platforms Must Act Against Harmful Content
The revised rules require intermediaries to take prompt action whenever they detect content related to:
- Child sexual exploitation material (CSEM)
- Non-consensual intimate images
- AI-generated impersonation
- Other harmful AI-generated content
The government has emphasised that such material should be addressed immediately to improve user safety.
Stronger Compliance for Social Media Companies
These platforms must make reasonable efforts to deploy technical tools, including automated systems, to proactively identify and detect content depicting:
- Rape or simulated rape
- Child sexual abuse
- Explicit or implicit sexual exploitation
- Content identical to material that has already been removed
The rules encourage platforms to strengthen their content moderation systems and prevent the repeated circulation of previously removed illegal material.
