3 hours to pull down posts and more: How India is cracking down on deepfakes

The Central government has mandated social media platforms to clearly label AI-generated content. These companies will now have to take down or disable access to objectionable content within three hours of a competent authority or court flagging such material.

The Centre on Tuesday (February 10) notified the amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The changes are set to come into effect on February 20.

Here’s what we know.

What are Centre’s new rules on deepfakes?

The Centre has ordered social media companies to regulate AI-generated and synthetic content. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Tuesday issued a notification under Section 87 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.

The amendments to the Information Technology Rules 2021 define AI-generated content.

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The new rules apply to intermediaries, including social media platforms, messaging apps, video-sharing platforms, AI-driven content platforms, and services that host, publish, transmit, or enable access to user-generated content.

“Synthetically generated information” includes audio, visual or audio-visual content that is “artificially or algorithmically created, generated, modified or altered using a computer resource” in a way that appears real and shows a person or event that they could be perceived as authentic.

The new IT rules define AI-generated and synthetic content. Representational Image/AI-generated

Routine editing, such as colour correction, noise reduction, compression and translation, is exempt from the new rules, as long as it does not distort the original meaning.

Research papers, training materials, PDFs, presentations and hypothetical drafts using illustrative content are also not covered under the new amendments.

Synthetically generated information involving child sexual abuse material, obscene content, false electronic records, explosives-related material, or deepfakes that misrepresent a real person's identity or voice will now be penalised under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Explosive Substances Act.

Social media platforms have to clearly label synthetic content and embed it with permanent metadata or other provenance markers, including a unique identifier. Intermediaries cannot allow users to remove or suppress such labels.

Social media intermediaries have to ensure that users declare whether content is synthetically generated. Online platforms will also have to verify the accuracy of such declarations through technical measures. Confirmed synthetic content will then be prominently labelled before publication.

According to the notification, if an intermediary “knowingly permitted, promoted, or failed to act upon” such content in violation of the rules, it will be deemed to have failed to exercise due diligence.

Platforms will also have to regularly inform users of the consequences of violations, including suspension of account, removal of content and liability under the law. Users must be warned that misuse of synthetic content “may attract penalty or punishment”.

What are the new timelines?

India has sharply slashed takedown timelines for social media companies once objectionable content has been flagged.

They will have to remove or block access to illegal or misleading AI content within three hours of government or court orders. Earlier, this time limit was 36 hours.

The new rules also reduce grievance redressal timelines for users, requiring faster acknowledgement by platforms. The complaint has to be acknowledged within 24 hours, while silence or automated non-response will be treated as a failure of the grievance mechanism.

Platforms will have 15 days to decide their action or a lack thereof and explain the reasons for the same. It will have to take corrective steps if a violation is found. They can suspend or terminate accounts, restrict posting or sharing features, and limit visibility of content, especially if there are repeated violations, serious harm or deception, or coordinated misuse.

Non-compliance with India's new rules could lead to the platform losing its legal protection.

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Why does it matter?

This is the first time that deepfakes and other forms of synthetic content have been brought under a regulatory framework in India.

The Centre’s new rules come at a time when India has witnessed a rise in deepfake content, particularly nonconsensual sexual visuals targeting women. The surge in impersonation scams and misleading clips during elections has prompted concerns of misinformation and possible unrest.

India has 95.8 crore active internet users. With such a large population, it is a key market for platforms like Meta and YouTube, which could result in compliance measures adopted in India influencing global product and moderation practices, according to TechCrunch.

“The amended IT Rules mark a more calibrated approach to regulating AI-generated deepfakes,” Rohit Kumar, founding partner at New Delhi-based policy consulting firm The Quantum Hub, told the news outlet. “The significantly compressed grievance timelines — such as the two- to three-hour takedown windows — will materially raise compliance burdens and merit close scrutiny, particularly given that non-compliance is linked to the loss of safe harbour protections.”

Safe harbour under Section 79 protects intermediaries from liability for user content. Once these protections are lost, they can be directly sued or prosecuted.

With inputs from agencies