India amends IT Rules to tighten takedown timelines and labeling liability for AI-generated content on social platforms

India’s IT Ministry amended the 2021 IT Rules to cut government-ordered takedown time for social platforms to 3 hours (from 36) and to mandate permanent labels for “synthetically generated information,” with platform liability and new bans for certain synthetic-content categories.

The amended rules compress the response time for authority requests to remove content deemed illegal under Indian law to three hours, materially changing moderation and escalation timelines. Platforms must also apply permanent, non-removable markings to content classified as “synthetically generated information,” shifting compliance from optional disclosure to a binding labeling standard. The government is explicitly assigning responsibility to platforms when synthetic content is published without the required markings, increasing liability risk tied to detection and enforcement. The amendments also introduce bans on certain categories of synthetic content, creating a hard constraint on what can be hosted or distributed under the rules.