The India synthetic content rules put new duties on platforms and AI tools. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified India’s amendments to the IT Rules on “synthetically generated information” (SGI) on 10 February 2026, and they took effect on 20 February 2026. They change the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which set the duties of every intermediary in India. They are the country’s first binding rules on synthetic media, and they also sharply shorten the time platforms have to act on removal orders.
What counts as synthetically generated information
According to MeitY’s updated text of the rules, which includes the 10 February notification (G.S.R. 120(E)), SGI means audio, visual or audio-visual material that is created or altered using a computer, artificially or algorithmically, so that it looks real and shows people or events as if they were genuine. Good-faith edits like colour correction, noise reduction or compression are excluded. So are translation and accessibility aids that leave the substance unchanged, and routine documents, presentations and teaching materials that do not create a false document or record.
What the India synthetic content rules require
- Labels and provenance: permitted SGI needs a clear label and must carry permanent provenance markers, such as embedded metadata or a unique identifier, that cannot be removed.
- Tools that create content: platforms that offer AI tools for generating or altering content must build in labelling.
- User declarations: significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs), meaning any with over 5 million registered users in India, must ask users to declare whether an upload is AI-generated and use reasonable technical measures to check.
- Faster takedowns: platforms must act on lawful government or court takedown orders within three hours.
Why the three-hour rule matters
Under India’s earlier rules, platforms had 36 hours to act on such orders. The amendments also cut the deadline for removing non-consensual intimate imagery, including deepfake nudes, from 24 hours to 2 hours. Three hours leaves little time for review, so platforms are likely to remove first and ask questions later. Supporters say this is needed to stop harmful deepfakes spreading; critics worry about over-removal of lawful speech. Either way, it raises the stakes for anyone posting contested synthetic content.
Who is affected: platforms in India and their users
The rules apply to every online intermediary in India, from social networks and video platforms to messaging and AI services. Large platforms carry the heaviest duties. Users are affected indirectly: expect to be asked whether your upload is AI-generated, and to see more labels on synthetic posts.
The stakes for platforms are high. An intermediary that fails its due diligence obligations risks losing safe harbour, the protection from liability for users’ posts under Section 79 of the IT Act. An SSMI that knowingly allows unlawful SGI, or does nothing about it, is treated as having breached those duties.
What creators using AI should do
- Use the platform’s AI label or disclosure tool whenever you post synthetic images, audio or video.
- Answer AI content declarations honestly; false declarations can lead to removal of content.
- Keep your source files in case a label or declaration is questioned.
- Avoid realistic synthetic media about real people unless you have their consent.
What an intermediary should do for compliance
- Build a label into everything your AI creation tools produce.
- Add a declaration step for uploads, plus detection tools to verify it.
- Make sure your legal team can act on removal orders around the clock.
How this fits with India’s wider approach
India has no dedicated AI law like the EU AI Act. Instead, it regulates AI harms through existing laws such as the Information Technology Act and its rules, while investing heavily in AI through the IndiaAI Mission launched in 2024. The government has also published voluntary AI governance guidelines that favour a light-touch approach outside high-risk areas.
India’s data protection law, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, applies whenever AI systems process personal data, and its rules are being phased in. Together with the 2026 amendment rules, it means AI companies serving Indian users now face real compliance duties, even without an AI act.
India synthetic content rules: common questions
Do the rules ban deepfakes?
Not outright. They require SGI to be labelled and traceable, and platforms that offer AI creation tools must use automated tools and other technical measures to prevent users making certain unlawful content, such as child sexual abuse material, non-consensual intimate images, false documents or deceptive depictions of real people or events. Deepfakes that are unlawful for other reasons, such as impersonation, fraud, defamation or non-consensual intimate imagery, must still be removed.
Do they apply to foreign platforms?
They apply to any intermediary offering services to users in India, wherever the company is based, so foreign platforms need the same compliance steps.
Read our India tracker entry for sources and updates.
Last checked: 5 November 2026. This explains the law in plain English; it is not legal advice. Spotted an error? Tell us, and see how we check facts.
