AI content rules from Feb 20

The duty of the news media is to inform the people about socially relevant matters and events with authentic facts. However, with the advent of social media, every individual became a fourth wall, and surmises and rumours became news, misleading people. People are creating stories out of their imaginations, based on mere hearsay, raising serious and vile allegations against organisations and individuals without any evidence.

The wedge created in society due to the spread of such lies in the guise of news is concerning, nevertheless. It has turned out that anyone can write anything at a whim on social media with impunity. This trend is increasingly leading to the breakdown of many family relationships and even the suicide of innocent people.

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), a new situation arose where people struggle to differentiate real from reel. To curb this and regulate content produced using AI, the IT Ministry of the Central Government has issued a notification amending the IT rules. This is intended to prevent fraud and false propaganda on social media using artificial intelligence. The new rules will come into effect on the 20th.

AI content is described in the rules as "synthetically generated information." The new rules require that deepfakes created using AI and other technologies remove videos and images within three hours of receiving an order from authorities. If images, videos, and sounds that appear to be real are artificially created, they must be labelled and clearly stated.

The final rules are stricter than the draft rules released in October 2025. The draft had given intermediaries like Facebook, X, and Instagram 36 hours to remove fake content after receiving an order. This has been reduced to three hours in the new amendment.

Child sexual abuse, pornographic content, and deepfake videos that mislead individuals will now be criminalised under the Indian Penal Code, POCSO, and the Explosives Act. Intermediaries are defined as platforms that store or transfer end-user data. These include service providers like Jio, Amazon, Google, Meta, online marketplaces, search engines, and social media. The first phase of the implementation of the rules will focus on large social media intermediaries with more than 5 million registered users. The law will mainly affect foreign companies like Meta and X.