India strengthens online child safety rules for social media
Faster removal rules reinforce India’s efforts to combat child sexual abuse material online.
India is strengthening enforcement of its online child safety framework by introducing stricter obligations for social media platforms, including faster content removal requirements and new safeguards for AI-generated content.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said it has requested a detailed report from a social media platform following allegations that advertisements linked to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) appeared on its service. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has also issued notices to the platforms concerned.
The updated framework significantly shortens compliance deadlines for intermediaries. Platforms must remove unlawful content within three hours of receiving a court order or a reasoned government notice, compared with the previous 36-hour deadline.
Complaints involving nudity, morphed intimate images and similar sensitive content must be addressed within two hours, while intermediaries are also required to report offences involving CSAM and other relevant crimes to the appropriate authorities.
The amendments also expand obligations for AI-generated content. Intermediaries must ensure that permissible synthetic content is clearly labelled and accompanied by traceable metadata, while preventing the creation and dissemination of unlawful AI-generated material, including child sexual exploitation material, non-consensual intimate imagery, impersonation and deepfakes.
Significant social media intermediaries must also deploy automated tools and other technical measures to proactively detect CSAM and previously identified illegal content. India said compliance will be reinforced through government advisories and a standard operating procedure on non-consensual intimate imagery issued in 2025.
Authorities warned that platforms failing to meet their due diligence obligations could lose the liability protections provided under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act and face prosecution under applicable laws.
Why does it matter?
India’s measures reflect a broader shift towards faster and more proactive platform accountability. Rather than relying primarily on user reports, regulators are increasingly requiring platforms to respond within hours, deploy automated detection systems and demonstrate that they can effectively prevent the spread of harmful content.
The inclusion of specific obligations for AI-generated content also illustrates how online safety regulation is evolving to address emerging risks such as deepfakes and synthetic child exploitation material. Together, the measures reinforce the expectation that platforms are responsible not only for removing illegal content but also for preventing its creation, distribution and recurrence.
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