India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology proposed persistent labels for AI-generated content on social media in a notice issued on April 21. The move amends IT Rules to enhance oversight on user-generated news. Feedback is invited until May 7.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) proposed an amendment to Rule 3(3)(a)(ii) of the IT Rules 2021 in a notice issued on Tuesday. It requires a "continuous and clearly visible display of label for synthetically generated information [AI generated content] throughout the duration of the content in visual display."
The rule was notified in February 2026 as part of obligations for social media intermediaries on synthetically generated content (SGI). A MeitY official said the change ensures labels do not disappear after the initial seconds of a video or visual. February rules also set a three-hour deadline for platforms to remove AI-generated or deepfake content if flagged by the government or court-ordered.
An October 2025 draft had mandated labels covering at least 10% of the visual display, but industry pushback led to its removal in the final February rules. The same notice extended the comment deadline on March 30 draft amendments to May 7 for a second time, bringing user-generated news under publisher-like oversight.
These drafts make compliance with MeitY advisories mandatory, require 180-day data retention, and expand the Inter-Departmental Committee's role to any "matter." The Press Club of India has called for a complete rollback of the draft rules.