IT Ministry advises social media platforms to take down ‘manipulated’ content

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Thursday (October 8, 2026) urged social media platforms to curb “manipulated or out-of-context content,” on top of AI-generated deepfakes that are already liable for takedown notices under amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Liability and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 that were passed earlier this year. The advisory was first reported by tech policy news portal MediaNama. 

“Such content, particularly when presented as current or authentic information, has the potential to cause public confusion, create apprehension, disturb public order and social tranquillity, and contribute to law-and-order concerns,” the advisory said. The edict comes ahead of the October 10 protest planned by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), and also follows outrage by Telugu film industry stars around a deepfake video that went viral this week.

While the IT Rules, 2021 so far require social media platforms to require providing users with an option of labelling of AI-generated imagery, the Thursday advisory goes further, urging them to “exercise enhanced diligence in respect of information being disseminated on their platforms which is false, misleading, manipulated or deliberately presented out of context,” and to take care with regard to posts featuring “old/archived photographs and videos being presented as current events”. 

The advisory particularly warns social media platforms, in its subject line, to pay attention to content that could “affect public order”. It comes days ahead of the Saturday protest that seeks the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. 

Platforms were warned to “accord priority to reports/complaints received from authorised government agencies”. The Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009 provide for ministries and departments, 65 in all, to forward takedown notices for online content, to the IT Ministry. 

Those rules were issued under Section 69(A) of the IT Act, but many of the takedowns, especially on Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, are done under Section 79(3)(b). That subsection allows authorised agencies to inform social media platforms that they believe certain content is illegal, but does not bind them to removing posts — however, since a February IT Rules, 2021 amendment reduced compliance timelines to 1-3 hours, Meta in particular has chosen to automatically take posts referred under this channel down, drawing criticism from digital rights groups.