NEW DELHI: Only senior officers — of the rank of Joint Secretary or above, or a director, in the absence of such rank — can issue orders to social media platforms for removal of unlawful online content. Besides, every takedown order will now require a monthly review by a secretary-level officer to ensure actions remain lawful, necessary and proportionate. These provisions are part of the amended Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which were notified on Wednesday.
The new provisions, introduced through the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2025, aim to make the removal of unlawful online content more transparent, proportionate and accountable, said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in a statement. The amended rules will come into effect from November 1.
Originally notified in February 2021, and amended in 2022 and 2023, the IT Rules lay down obligations for intermediaries, including social media platforms, to ensure online safety and accountability. Under Rule 3(1)(d), intermediaries are required to remove unlawful information upon receiving actual knowledge through a court order or a government notification.
The MeitY reviewed the rules and found the need for clearer procedures, senior-level authorisation, and oversight for the removal of contents.
As per the amended rules, all takedown requests must now include a clear legal basis, specific statutory provisions, and precise details such as URLs or identifiers of the content to be removed. This replaces the earlier, broader notifications with a ‘reasoned intimation’ framework.
Meanwhile, the ministry has also proposed new rules to address deepfakes and AI-generated content. It has proposed fresh amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 to address the growing challenges posed by synthetically generated information.
The rules propose a new clause defining synthetically generated information as any content artificially or algorithmically created or modified using computer resources in a manner that appears authentic. It has also been proposed to bring such content under the framework for takedown of unlawful content. Besides, the proposed rules mandate online platforms to embed permanent identifiers or visible labels clearly marking such content as synthetically generated.
