The Tamesis
A new Indian government directive requiring social media companies to remove content it deems “illegal” within three hours of being notified is an “impossible” requirement, experts say.
The directive also applies to AI-generated content, tightening the previous 36-hour timeline, which could pose compliance challenges for Meta, YouTube and X.
The modification content is as follows India IT Rules 2021which has become a flashpoint between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and global technology companies.
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The revised rules also relax an earlier proposal that would have required platforms to visibly mark AI-generated content at 10% of its surface area or duration, instead of requiring such content to be “conspicuously marked.”
The new regulations are expected to take effect from February 20.
“It’s virtually impossible for a social media company to remove content within three hours,” Akash Karmakar, a partner at Indian law firm Panag & Babu who specializes in technology law, told Reuters. “That assumes there’s no thought or real-world ability to resist compliance.”
Facebook owner Meta declined to comment on the changes, while X and Alphabet-owned Google, which operates YouTube, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
India’s IT rules empower the government to order the removal of content deemed illegal under any of its laws, including those related to national security and public order.
Narendra Modi’s government has issued thousands of takedown orders in recent years, according to platform transparency reports. It was revealed that in the first six months of 2025, Meta restricted more than 28,000 pieces of content in India alone based on government requests.
“The rule was never negotiated. International standards provide a longer timeline,” said a social media executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.
censorship concerns
The move comes as pressure mounts on social media companies globally to police content more aggressively, with governments from Brussels to Brasilia demanding faster removals and greater accountability.
But it also cements India’s position as one of the world’s most aggressive regulators of online content, requiring platforms to balance compliance in a market of 1 billion internet users with growing concerns about government censorship.
The government directive did not give any reason for changing the removal schedule.
India has taken numerous steps to control speech online, empowering dozens of officials in recent years to order content removal. This has often drawn criticism from digital rights advocates and sparked conflicts with companies such as Elon Musk’s X.
“While these rules claim to address the harms of AI-generated content, such as deepfakes, they introduce serious digital rights violations that fundamentally undermine constitutional protections,” the Internet Freedom Foundation of India said. In a statement posted on.
The IFF said the changes made by the government were inconsistent with prior consultations with various stakeholders, including the organization. It also noted that the law’s expansion could raise privacy and censorship concerns.
The changes include additions such as revealing the identities of users whose content is logged to complainants, requiring social media companies to deploy “automated tools” to prevent the uploading of so-called illegal content, and vague rules that could “criminalize the lawful use of artificial intelligence.”
For example, the rules prohibit Synthetically Generated Information (SGI) from “mischaracterizing or characterizing” a person or event “in a manner likely to deceive.” The IFF notes that the language is “so broad that it can capture satire, parody, political commentary and artistic expression”.
Nikhil Pahwa, one of the founders of IFF said In a separate X post On Wednesday, the Indian government said it was not feasible to implement the rules.
“It was designed to fail and be implemented arbitrarily,” he said.
- Reuters, with additional editing and input by Vishakha Saxena
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