New Delhi: The government on Tuesday imposed strict rules for online platforms to handle AI-generated and synthetic content, including deepfake content. The government has said that platforms like X and Instagram will have to remove any such content flagged by a competent authority or courts within three hours.
The government has notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which formally define AI-generated and synthetic content. These new rules will come into effect from February 20, 2026.
The amendments define ‘audio, visual or audio-visual information’ and ‘synthetically-generated information’, which includes content created or altered with AI, which appears to be original or authentic. Routine editing, accessibility improvements, and educational or design work done in good faith are excluded from this definition. According to a gazette notification issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, platforms will have to act on government or court orders within three hours, which was earlier 36 hours.
Along with this, the time limit for redressal of user complaints has also been reduced. According to the rules, labeling of AI content is mandatory. Platforms that facilitate the creation or sharing of synthetic content will have to ensure that such content is clearly and prominently labeled and, where technically feasible, is associated with permanent metadata or identifiers.
Illegal AI Calling for content bans, it said platforms must deploy automated tools to block AI content that is illegal, deceptive, sexually explicit, non-consensual, or involves false documents, child abuse material, explosives, or disguises. Intermediaries cannot allow AI labels or metadata to be removed or suppressed once they are applied.