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ARTICLE · 25 FEBRUARY 2026

India's New Law Governing Synthetic Media

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On February 10, 2026, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (‘MeitY') notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code)...

IndiaMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
AZB & Partners
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'Keeping It Real: India Tightens the Reins on Synthetic Media'

On February 10, 2026, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ('MeitY') notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026 ('Amendment Rules'), which amend the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ('Intermediary Rules'). The Amendment Rules will come into force on February 20, 2026.

By way of background, the Intermediary Rules prescribe, among others, due diligence measures that intermediaries (as defined below) must implement to avail safe harbour from liability for third party generated content. The Amendment Rules follow a public consultation process initiated in October 2025, during which MeitY released draft rules ('Draft Rules') for stakeholder feedback. Pursuant to feedback received, MeitY has made significant changes to the Draft Rules, which includes,

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