The government of India is preparing a major update to its internet regulations. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a draft amendment to the existing Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Under the new proposal, any content generated or modified by artificial intelligence — whether text, video, audio or other media — must be clearly labelled as synthetic.
What the Draft Rules Say
- Platforms will be required to obtain a declaration from users uploading content — creators must declare if a piece is AI-generated or modified.
- For visual content (images or videos), the synthetic-content label must cover at least 10% of the display area. For audio, the label or audible identifier must appear during the first 10% of the content’s duration.
- Platforms must embed a permanent metadata tag or unique identifier in synthetic content. This identifier must remain intact and cannot be removed or masked.
- Social-media companies considered “significant intermediaries” must use technical verification tools (whether automated or otherwise) to confirm whether content produced through synthetic means rather than solely depending on user reports.
This new framework’s primary objective is to prevent misuse of generative AI for “deepfakes”, videos or audio that misrepresent real people fabricated via artificial intelligence which are then used to spread misinformation, defame individuals or manipulate public opinion or manipulate social and political processes.
What This Means for Users and Platforms
For everyday internet users, this move aims to bring more transparency online. Viewers will immediately know whether a post, video or image was AI-generated. This clarity can help curb the spread of misleading or harmful content.
For platforms — especially large social media and content-sharing sites — the rules will impose new technical responsibilities. They will need to build infrastructure to verify, label, tag, and monitor synthetic content. Failure to comply could lead to loss of legal protections that platforms currently enjoy under the IT Act.
What’s Next
The amendment draft is now available to the public for feedback. Stakeholders, which includes Social media sites, AI developers, civil-society groups, as well as regular users are invited to provide their views. After feedback has been reviewed After that, a final draft of the law can be published, forming the future of regulation of content in India.
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