The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has invited feedback and comments from stakeholders on draft rules to combat issues from deepfakes, synthetically generated information and other misuse of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The draft amendments are intended for the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (2021 rules).
The 2021 rules were recently amended to ensure that intermediaries remove unlawful online content on receiving actual knowledge through a court order or notification.
Public consultation has been sought after misuse of generative AI tools and platforms that either host or allow creation of such material, including intermediaries, face additional due diligence obligations. The proposed rules include a clear definition of synthetically generated information, guidelines to label and identify the generated outcome, as well as the embedding requirements of such outcomes to ensure users can differentiate between synthetically generated and genuine/authentic content.
The rules propose that all synthetically generated content should have its initial 10% of audio or visual duration clearly indicate that it is a synthetic generation.
The proposed amendments also enhanced verification and declaration obligations for significant social media intermediaries, where they must have mechanisms to confirm whether uploaded content is synthetically generated or authentic, and to label it as such. Any social media platform, with more than 5 million users, is a significant social media intermediary.
Comments must be sent via email by 6 November 2025.
