Inside India’s 2026 IT Rules Amendment: How the New 3-Hour Deepfake Deadline Changes the Internet

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In a decisive move to combat the surge of digital deception, the Indian government has officially notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026.

Effective from 20 February 2026, the new regulations mandate that platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube must label all AI-generated content and remove flagged deepfakes within a strict three-hour window. This primary keyword-driven shift aims to protect over 700 million internet users from misinformation and synthetic fraud.

Strict Deadlines and Clear Rules: An Insider Look

The new rules change how India handles ‘Synthetically Generated Information’ (SGI). The law now defines AI content as any audio or video made by computers to look real. Social media companies cannot just host content anymore. They must use smart tools to find and label AI-made posts.

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The biggest change is the new time limit for removing posts. Before, companies had 36 hours to act on orders. Now, for serious issues like fake videos of people or illegal content, they only have three hours.

"The operative effect of the notification requires platforms to act with near-immediacy once content is flagged, particularly where such content is found to be illegal, deceptive, sexually exploitative, non-consensual, or impersonatory in nature," states a report by LawBeat (February 10, 2026).

Platforms must also ask users if they used AI when they upload a file. The government wants ‘digital watermarks’ hidden in these files, which can help trace the content back to the person who made it. This makes it harder for people to hide that a video is fake.

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Who Pays the Price? The Hidden Impact of the India IT Rules Amendment 2026

The India IT Rules amendment 2026 affects more than just big tech companies. Small local businesses and creators now face higher costs. Big companies like Meta have a lot of money to build AI-tracking tools.

However, small Indian startups do not. They might struggle to pay for the expensive tech needed to follow these new laws. There is also a risk that good content might get deleted by mistake. If a computer program has to make a choice in three hours, it might delete a funny parody video just to be safe.

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"Several startups fear that automated detection of AI-generated content may demand expensive machine-learning infrastructure. Consequently, they ask MeitY to stagger roll-out or provide open-source tooling," reports AI CERTs (November 2025).

The 2026 rules show that the era of ‘anything goes’ for AI in India is over. India is now working like the European Union to keep the internet safe. The real test will be how the government handles mistakes made by AI filters. In the coming months, many businesses will need to hire experts to help them follow these strict rules.