MeitY Notifies New IT Rules to Curb Deepfakes and AI Content

Outlook Business reports that India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has formally notified changes to its 2021 IT rules governing intermediary guidelines and the digital media ethics code. The amendments aim to regulate deepfakes and other material the rules call synthetically generated information. They come into force on February 20, 2026, which leaves platforms and intermediaries a short transition period to adjust their policies and systems.

The rules define synthetically generated information as audio, visual or audio-visual material created or altered by artificial or algorithmic means so that it looks real, depicting people or events in a way that cannot be told apart from reality. The ministry's move responds to a rise in AI-related scams in recent years, which the article says have caused major financial losses and cases of physical and emotional abuse across age groups and genders.

Several obligations follow. Intermediaries must now take content down within 3 hours of a government or authorized order, where the earlier limit was 36 hours. Any synthetically generated content has to carry a prominent label, so people can tell at once that AI produced it. Every three months at minimum, intermediaries must remind users that violations can lead to immediate suspension of the account, termination, or removal of content.

On legal protection, the rules clarify that intermediaries do not forfeit their safe harbour under Section 79 of the IT Act when they remove or disable access to information, including synthetic content, in line with the prescribed guidelines. The article adds background on the IT Act, enacted in 2000 and amended in 2008 and later.