New Delhi, February 11 (IANS) — Legal experts have welcomed the government’s amended guidelines on AI-generated deepfakes, saying social media intermediaries are likely to prefer the new “reasonable efforts” expectation over a stricter visible-labelling requirement previously proposed. The Information Technology Ministry has issued updated rules directing platforms to label AI-generated content and ensure such synthetic material carries embedded identifiers.
The MeitY amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, give regulators and the government powers to monitor and control synthetically generated information (SGI), including deepfakes. AI-created or altered content must be identified either through visible disclosures or embedded metadata so users can view and consume material in an informed manner.
“Interestingly, the amendments narrow the scope of what is to be flagged, compared to the earlier draft released by MeitY, with a focus on misleading content rather than everything that has been artificially or algorithmically created, generated, modified or altered,” said Sajai Singh, Partner, JSA Advocates & Solicitors.
The revised rules also tighten timelines for takedowns: social media platforms must remove AI-generated deepfake content within three hours of it being flagged by the government or ordered removed by a court, down from an earlier 36-hour window. Platforms are prohibited from removing or suppressing AI labels or associated metadata once applied.
Under the latest MeitY order, companies such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube will be required to deploy automated tools to detect and prevent the circulation of illegal, sexually exploitative or deceptive AI-generated content. “I think intermediaries will be happy with the reasonable efforts expectation rather than the earlier proposed visible labelling,” Singh added.
The amendments aim to balance user protection and platform feasibility by prioritising misleading or harmful synthetic content for labelling and removal, while requiring technical measures-visible labels or embedded metadata and automated detection-to reduce the spread of harmful deepfakes.
Original Source: https://www.morungexpress.com/experts-hail-revised-ai-deepfake-guidelines-that-focus-on-misleading-content
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Publish Date: 2026-02-11 11:21:00
