IT Ministry notifies label for AI-generated content, mandates 2-3 hours’ timeline for takedown

The Union Government has notified amendments that require photorealistic AI-generated contents to be prominently labelled and significantly shortening timelines for takedown of illegal material, including non-consensual deepfakes. The changes come under the Information Technology Act, 2021, and will come into force on February 20, the final day of the upcoming India-AI Impact Summit.

Social media platforms will now have between 2-3 hours to remove certain categories of unlawful content. Content deemed illegal by a court or an “appropriate government” will have to be taken down within 3 hours.

On Tuesday, the IT Ministry notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Under the fresh amendments, the government has removed an earlier proposal (from last October) to apply a label to content generated through AI tools to cover at least 10% of the space, but under the notified rules, that has been changed to place “prominently” visible labels.

The specific 10% requirement has been done away with. A senior government official said that the change was made as tech companies, during consultations, flagged that the 10% label requirement would take away space from the actual piece of content, making it unappealing for viewers. However, the proposal had also courted pushback from tech companies.

The government has also ordered social media platforms to deploy automated tools to prevent illegal, sexually exploitative, misleading, or fraudulent AI content. The platforms must also warn users about the penalties for violating these rules at least once every three months.

The updated law increases the responsibility of social media companies and digital platforms regarding deepfakes and AI-generated content.

According to the government notification, "synthetically generated information" is now clearly defined. This includes audio, video, photos, or other visual content that has been artificially or algorithmically created and that represents a person or event as real.