Latest / Media, elections and online safety
India notifies IT Rules amendment mandating deepfake labels and 3-hour takedowns
MeitY notified G.S.R. 120(E), in force from 20 February 2026, defining 'synthetically generated information' and requiring intermediaries that enable it to label it prominently and embed permanent metadata with unique identifiers. Large platforms must collect and technically verify user declarations of synthetic content, and takedown deadlines fell to three hours for unlawful content on orders and two hours for non-consensual intimate imagery complaints.
Why it matters
Platforms and AI tools serving Indian users must build labelling and provenance into products or risk losing safe-harbour protection.
Line of Thought
Follow this story
Pick any item to keep going. Your path builds up above as a line you can share.
Directly linked
Connections our researchers recorded
- DevelopmentChina's mandatory labelling rules for AI-generated content take effect1 Sep 2025 · Rule change · CNContrasts with: Both mandate visible labels plus embedded metadata; India ties compliance to safe harbour and fast takedown.
What led here
Earlier developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentOfcom opens Online Safety Act probe into X over Grok sexualised deepfakes12 Jan 2026 · Enforcement or ruling · GB, EU
What happened next
Later developments on the same thread
- DevelopmentCSET study of PLA tenders maps China's military AI shopping list17 Feb 2026 · Research · CN
- DevelopmentEU finalises code of practice on marking and labelling AI-generated content10 Jun 2026 · Policy · EU
- DevelopmentEU Digital Omnibus on AI enters force, delaying high-risk AI Act duties to 2027-2827 Jul 2026 · Rule change · EU
- DevelopmentGoogle DeepMind publishes SynthID Bio watermarking for AI-designed proteins in Nature30 Sep 2026 · Research · GB, US
Same story elsewhere
What other countries and bodies did on this
- DevelopmentBrazil's electoral court sets AI rules for 2026 elections, incl. 72-hour deepfake ban2 Mar 2026 · Rule change · BR
- DevelopmentSouth Korea's AI Basic Act takes effect, with a one-year pause on fines22 Jan 2026 · Rule change · KR
- DevelopmentOpenAI starts watermarking ChatGPT and Codex text in the EU to meet AI Act rules5 Oct 2026 · Launch · EU
- DevelopmentEU AI Office gains powers to enforce AI Act rules on general-purpose models2 Aug 2026 · Rule change · EU
Rules in play
Laws and guidance this touches
- RuleIT Rules SGI/deepfake amendmentIN · In force · 10 Feb 2026
- RuleDraft IT Rules Second AmendmentIN · In consultation · 30 Mar 2026
- RuleGenerative AI MeasuresCN · In force · 10 Jul 2023
- RuleDeep Synthesis ProvisionsCN · In force · 25 Nov 2022
- RuleAIGC Labelling MeasuresCN · In force · 7 Mar 2025
Threads by topic: Deepfakes Labelling AI content