India Tightens Social Media Content Rules

India's government has amended its 2021 IT rules, significantly tightening the deadline for social media companies to remove unlawful content from 36 hours to three hours, effective February 20. This move, driven by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration, aims to control online speech more aggressively and has drawn criticism from digital rights advocates who fear it will lead to increased censorship and automated over-removal of content. Major platforms such as Meta Platforms, Google — YouTube (owned by Alphabet Inc.), and Block, Inc. are expected to face substantial compliance challenges, with experts like Akash Karmakar of Panag & Babu calling the new timeline 'practically impossible.' The amendments also introduce new rules for AI-generated content, mandating that platforms prominently label such material and use automated tools to detect and prevent illegal AI content. While the labeling requirement is seen as a positive step for transparency by some, the compressed takedown timeline raises concerns about the feasibility of human oversight and the potential for widespread content censoring.