Log in or register
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn

ARTICLE · 06 FEBRUARY 2026

Regulating Deepfakes And Strengthening Takedown Mechanisms In India: Amendments To The 2021 IT Rules

Fox & Mandal
Explore more from Fox & Mandal

There have been several instances of misinformation, impersonation, and online harm stemming from Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content such as deepfakes, including high-profile incidents involving Ratan Tata, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rashmika Mandana.

IndiaTechnology
Arindam Sarkar
Arindam Sarkar
Anwesha Sinha
Anwesha Sinha
Rangita Chowdhury
Rangita Chowdhury
Author LinkedIn connections

There have been several instances of misinformation, impersonation, and online harm stemming from Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated content such as deepfakes, including high-profile incidents involving Ratan Tata, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rashmika Mandana. With a view to strengthening the country's regulatory framework for addressing these aspects, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) recently took 2 significant steps:

  • Amendment to Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (Rules) to update the process for intermediaries to remove or disable access to unlawful content upon receiving valid takedown directions.

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

Register for freeORLog in

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Related Articles

Legal Intelligence Newsletters: sign up for the latest legal and regulatory news on your chosen topics

Read more about

Related Comparative Guides

See more popular content from

Article

Use Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) In Courts

On June 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of India’s AI Committee released preliminary draft of the Regulations for Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Courts, 2026 (“The Draft”). This marks a shift from scattered experiments with AI tools for translation, transcription, research and case management. With over 93,000 pending matters as of March 2026, the guidelines aim to ease processes for officials and citizens. AI could help reduce backlogs through automated cause-list preparation, transcription, research, and defect scrutiny, but its use also raises serious concerns.
IndiaTechnology
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Fintech In India: An Overview Of The Current Regulatory Landscape

India's fintech market is one of the fastest growing in the world, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Estimates put the market at about USD 145 billion at the end of 2025, growing at a compound annual rate of 30.55% to reach roughly USD 550 billion by 2030. India's fintech adoption rate is around 87%, reportedly the highest anywhere and well above the global average of roughly 64% to 67%. Add the world's second-largest digital population and the runway looks long.
IndiaTechnology
Legitpro Law
Legitpro Law
Article

CERT-In’s New AI-Vulnerability Guidelines: A Quick-Reference For OEMs, Tech Vendors And In-House Counsel

Cybersecurity regulation in India has, until now, largely spoken to the entity that suffers the breach. The 2022 CERT-In Directions issued under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000 fixed a six-hour reporting clock on the organisation that detects an incident. The new Guidelines flip the lens onto the entity upstream of that breach, the OEM or technology provider that built the product in the first place. For the first time, vendors supplying software, firmware, cloud platforms, or APIs into India carry direct, time-bound, and independently verifiable obligations of their own and not obligations that are merely passed through a customer contract, but obligations CERT-In itself may enforce.
IndiaTechnology
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Cybersecurity Is Now A Contract Risk: What India's New Power-Sector Regulations Mean For Technology Vendors

For most technology vendors, cybersecurity has been a promise made to a customer, set out in a statement of work and enforced, if at all, through the contract. For vendors supplying India's power sector, that is changing. The Central Electricity Authority (Cyber Security in Power Sector) Regulations, 2026, notified on 31 July 2026 under the Electricity Act, 2003, impose obligations directly on vendors, alongside a far more demanding set of requirements for the power-sector entities they serve. Most of these provisions come into force on 1 April 2027.
IndiaTechnology
Legitpro Law
Legitpro Law
Article

Understanding The Treatment Of An HUF Under The Income Tax Act, 1961

A Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) is a unique legal institution recognised under Hindu personal law, arising from the joint status of a family, rather than any formal act of creation. It is ordinarily constituted of every person lineally descended from a common ancestor, together with their wives, sons, and unmarried daughters. Within this structure, a coparcener refers to a member who acquires an interest in joint family property by birth and has the right to seek partition.
IndiaTax
Fox & Mandal
Fox & Mandal
Article

The Promotion And Regulation Of Online Gaming Rules, 2026: Collapse Of The Skill-chance Distinction

The regulatory framework governing gaming in India has long been marked by regulatory uncertainty characterised by inconsistent state legislation and evolving jurisprudence. Historically, Indian gaming jurisprudence drew a sharp distinction between games of skill and games of chance, with Courts repeatedly holding that skill-dominant games such as rummy and certain formats of poker could not be equated with gambling, thereby granting them constitutional protection under Article 19(1)(g).
IndiaMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Fox & Mandal
Fox & Mandal
Article

India's Press Note 3 Overhaul: From Restriction To Strategic Recalibration

The Indian government recently approved a significant amendment to the country’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) framework, specifically targeting investments in which the ultimate beneficial ownership traces back to countries sharing a land border with India (LBCs). The formal implementing notification was issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in Press Note 2 (2026 Series) on March 15, 2026 (PN2), amending the extant FDI Policy.
IndiaGovernment, Public Sector
Fox & Mandal
Fox & Mandal
Article

Recent Developments In India's Corporate & Commercial Laws – January 2026

The January 2026 edition of Fox & Mandal's newsletter examines the Securities Markets Code, 2025; revised definition of ‘small company'; liberalisation of the nuclear sector; amendments to the merchant banking regulations and the priority sector lending framework; locus of a housing society in the developer's CIRP; and other changes in India's corporate, capital markets, infrastructure, insolvency, and banking sectors.
IndiaCorporate/Commercial Law
Fox & Mandal
Fox & Mandal
Article

Recent Developments In India's Corporate & Commercial Laws – September 2026

The September 2026 edition of Fox & Mandal's newsletter examines MCA’s FAQs on foreign company registration; proposed amendments to the NBFC credit facilities framework; expansion of OBPP offerings; operationalisation of FDI in inventory-based cross-border e-commerce; Demat 2.0 for tokenisation of corporate bonds; NHAI Policy Circular on real-time blacklisting and non-performance records; and other changes in India's corporate, capital markets, infrastructure, and banking sectors.
IndiaCorporate/Commercial Law
Fox & Mandal
Fox & Mandal