India, Feb. 24 -- Earlier this month, the government notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026, further amending the IT Rules 2021, in a bid to regulate "synthetically generated information". The intent is to tackle the rise of misinformation through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) deepfakes. The amendment raises certain concerns.

One of the most significant changes under the amended Rules is the compressing of deadlines in Rule 3(1)(d), requiring intermediaries to take down content upon receipt of a court order or on being notified by the government or government agency within three hours (down from 36 hours). At the same time, other deadlines have also been...