The Indian government has announced that social media companies must now remove unlawful content within three hours of receiving a notification. This new rule significantly shortens the previous timeline of 36 hours and poses a compliance challenge for major platforms such as Meta, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter). The updated regulations amend India’s existing Information Technology (IT) rules established in 2021, which have already sparked tensions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s administration and global technology firms.
The new regulations will take effect on February 20, 2024. In addition to the quicker takedown requirement, the amendments have relaxed an earlier proposal that mandated platforms to visibly label AI-generated content across 10 percent of its surface area or duration. Instead, platforms are now required to ensure that such content is “prominently labelled,” which may still pose challenges for compliance.
India’s tightening of online content regulations reflects an ongoing effort to control digital speech, drawing criticism from advocates for digital rights. The takedown regime has led to conflicts with companies like X, which has publicly opposed some of the government’s directives. According to transparency reports, the Indian government has issued thousands of takedown orders in recent years, targeting content deemed illegal under various laws, including those related to national security, public order, and sexual offences.
The urgency of these new rules aligns with a broader global trend, where governments from regions such as Brussels to Brasilia are demanding that social media companies take more aggressive action in policing content. Officials are increasingly calling for faster takedown responses and greater accountability from these platforms. The changes in India come as part of a growing international movement to regulate digital content more stringently.
Despite the potential impact of these changes, Meta has declined to comment on the newly proposed rules, while requests for statements from both X and Alphabet’s Google, which operates YouTube, have not received immediate responses. As the deadline approaches, the implications of this rapid takedown policy for both users and content providers remain to be seen, further complicating an already challenging landscape for social media operations in India.
