Starting November 15, 2025, India will implement amendments to its digital platform regulations that strengthen transparency, accountability, and oversight of unlawful content removal, while also introducing new requirements for labeling AI-generated content.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2025, revising the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Once notified, the rules will limit content removal powers to officials at joint secretary rank or above in central ministries, their equivalents in states, and deputy inspector general or higher in police forces.
All intimations must now include specific legal basis, statutory provisions and exact URLs, replacing earlier broad notifications with detailed “reasoned intimations.” A secretary-level officer will review all orders monthly to ensure necessity and proportionality.
Previously, even junior officers, sometimes of ranks as low as section officers or deputy directors, could send removal notifications and without providing detailed legal reasoning.
The concerns over who can order takedowns was at the centre of social media platform X’s recent legal challenge to the government’s Sahyog portal — a centralised system for sending content removal notices that the company argued allowed thousands of officials to issue arbitrary orders without judicial oversight. The Karnataka high court dismissed X’s petition, upholding the portal as a legitimate regulatory tool.
Moreover, the amendments introduce requirements for social platforms — such as Meta*, X (formerly Twitter), and Google — to mandatorily label content created with the help of artificial intelligence. AI-generated materials must include visual or audio markers covering at least 10% of the image or video duration, and users will be required to confirm that the uploaded information was generated by AI.
According to analysts, this is a step towards increasing platform accountability and providing stronger protection for users amid the rise of deepfakes.
According to MeitY, the amendments aim to balance citizens’ constitutional rights with the State’s regulatory responsibilities, ensuring that enforcement measures do not result in arbitrary restrictions. The reforms are expected to provide greater transparency and accountability, offer clarity for intermediaries in complying with legal directions and reinforce proportionality and due process under the IT Act.
*banned and designated as extremist in Russia
Sources: Hindustan Times, APAC Media
