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REGD. No. D. L.-33004/99
The Gazette of India
CG-DL-E-10022026-26993
EXTRAORDINARY
PART II-Section 3-Sub-section (i)
PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY
No. 114]
NEW DELHI, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2026/MAGHA 21, 1947
MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
NOTIFICATION
New Delhi, the 10th February, 2026
G.S.R. 120(E). — In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1), clauses (z) and (zg) of sub-section
(2) of section 87 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000), the Central Government hereby makes the
following rules to further amend the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code)
Rules, 2021, namely:-
1. Short Title and Commencement.—(1) These rules may be called the Information Technology (Intermediary
Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026.
(2) They shall come into force on the 20 th day of February, 2026.
2. In the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules,
2021(hereafter referred to as the said rules), in rule 2,—
(a) in sub-rule (1),—
(i) after clause (c), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:-
"(ca) 'audio, visual or audio-visual information' means any audio, image, photograph,
graphic, video, moving visual recording, sound recording or any other audio, visual or
audio-visual content, with or without accompanying audio, whether created,
generated, modified or altered through any computer resource;”.
(ii) after clause (w), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—
"(wa) 'synthetically generated information' means audio, visual or audio-visual
information which is artificially or algorithmically created, generated, modified or
altered using a computer resource, in a manner that such information appears to be real,
authentic or true and depicts or portrays any individual or event in a manner that is, or
is likely to be perceived as indistinguishable from a natural person or real-world event;
Provided that the purposes of this clause, an audio, visual or audio-visual
information shall not be deemed to be ‘synthetically generated information', where such
audio, visual or audio-visual information arises from-
(a) routine or good-faith editing, formatting, enhancement, technical correction,
colour adjustment, noise reduction, transcription, or compression that does not
materially alter, distort, or misrepresent the substance, context, or meaning of the
underlying audio, visual or audio-visual information; or
(b) the routine or good-faith creation, preparation, formatting, presentation or
design of documents, presentations, portable document format (PDF) files,
educational or training materials, research outputs, including the use of illustrative,
hypothetical, draft, template-based or conceptual content, where such creation or
presentation does not result in the creation or generation of any false document or
false electronic record; or
(c) the use of computer resources solely for improving accessibility, clarity, quality,
translation, description, searchability, or discoverability, without generating,
altering, or manipulating any material part of the underlying audio, visual or audio-
visual information;".
(b) after sub-rule (1), the following sub-rules shall be inserted, namely:—
"(1A) For the purposes of these rules, any reference to 'information' in the context of
information being used to commit an unlawful act, including under clauses (b) and (d) of
sub-rule (1) of rule 3 and sub-rules (2) and (4) of rule 4, shall be construed to include
synthetically generated information, unless the context otherwise requires.
(1B) For the purposes of these rules and for the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that
the removal of, or disabling of access to, any information, including synthetically generated
information, data or communication link, by an intermediary in compliance with these rules,
including in accordance with sub-rule (1), sub-rule (2) or sub-rule (3) of rule 3, or upon
becoming aware of any violation thereunder by deploying reasonable and appropriate
technical measures, including automated tools or other suitable mechanisms, shall not
amount to a violation of the conditions specified under clauses (a) or (b) of sub-section (2)
of section 79 of the Act.".
3. In the said rules, in rule 3,—
(a) in sub-rule (1), —
(i) for clause (c), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:-
"(c) an intermediary shall periodically inform its users, at least once every three months, in
a simple and effective manner through its rules and regulations, privacy policy, user
agreement, or any other appropriate means, in English or any language specified in the
Eighth Schedule to the Constitution, that-
(i) in case of non-compliance with such rules and regulations, privacy policy or
user agreement, by whatever name called, it has the right to terminate or
suspend the access or usage rights of the users to the computer resource
immediately, or to remove or disable access to non-compliant information, or
both, as the case may be;
(ii) where such non-compliance relates to the creation, generation, modification,
alteration, hosting, displaying, uploading, publishing, transmitting, storing,
updating, sharing or otherwise disseminating of information in contravention
of any law for the time being in force, the user who is responsible for such non-
compliance may be liable to penalty or punishment under the provisions of the
Act or any other applicable law; and
(iii) where such violation relates to the commission of an offence under any law for
the time being in force, such as the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
(46 of 2023) or the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (32
of 2012) which requires such offence to be mandatorily reported, reporting of
such offence to the appropriate authority in accordance with the provisions of
the applicable law;
(ca) without prejudice to sub-clauses (i) and (ii) of clause (c), where an intermediary referred
to under sub-rule (3) offers a computer resource which enables, permits or facilitates
the creation, generation, modification, alteration, publication, transmission, sharing, or
dissemination of information as synthetically generated information, such intermediary
shall additionally inform its users that-
(i) directing, instructing or otherwise causing the computer resource of the
intermediary for creation, generation, modification, alteration publication,
transmission, sharing, or dissemination of information as synthetically
generated information in contravention of sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-
rule (3) may attract penalty or punishment as may be applicable under any law
for the time being in force, including the provisions of the Act, the Bharatiya
Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023), the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act, 2012 (32 of 2012), the Representation of the People Act, 1951
(43 of 1951), the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986
(60 of 1986), the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention,
Prohibition And Redressal) Act, 2013 (14 of 2013), and the Immoral Traffic
(Prevention) Act, 1956 (104 of 1956); and
(ii) any such contravention of sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of sub-rule (3) may lead
to-
(I) the immediate disabling of access to or removal of such information;
(II) suspension or termination of the user account of the user who violates
this sub-rule without vitiating the evidence;
(III) in accordance with applicable law, identification of such user and
disclosure of the identity of the violating user to the complainant, where
such complainant is a victim of, or an individual acting on behalf of a
victim of, such contravention; and
(IV) where such violation relates to the commission of an offence under any
law for the time being in force, including the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha
Sanhita, 2023 (46 of 2023) or the Protection of Children from Sexual
Offences Act, 2012 (32 of 2012) which requires such offence to be
mandatorily reported, reporting of such offence to the appropriate
authority in accordance with the provisions of the applicable law;
(cb) where an intermediary becomes aware, either on its own accord or upon receipt of actual
knowledge or on the basis of any grievance, complaint or information received under
these rules, of any violation of sub-rule (3), in relation to the creation, generation,
modification, alteration, hosting, displaying, uploading, publishing, transmitting,
storing, updating, sharing or otherwise dissemination of information as synthetically
generated information covered under sub-clause (ii) of clause (a), it shall take
expeditious and appropriate action, including those specified in sub-clause (ii) of clause
(ca);".
(ii) in clause (d), —
(A) in the opening portion, for the words "thirty-six hours", the words "within three hours"
shall be substituted;
(B) in sub-clause (ii), in item (I), —
(I) in the opening portion, for the words "issued by an officer authorised for the purpose
of issuing such intimation”, the words "issued by an officer authorised, by order in
writing, for the purpose of issuing such intimation" shall be substituted;
(II) for the first proviso, the following proviso shall be substituted, namely:—
"Provided that where such intimation is to be issued by the police administration,
there may be one or more authorised officers, each not below the rank of Deputy
Inspector General of Police, especially authorised by the Appropriate Government in
this behalf:".
(b) in sub-rule (2), —
(i) in clause (a), in sub-clause (i),—
(I) in the opening portion, for the words "fifteen days", the words "seven days" shall be
substituted; and
(II) in the first proviso, for the words “seventy-two hours", the words "thirty-six hours" shall
be substituted;
(ii) in clause (b), for the words "twenty-four hours", the words "two hours" shall be substituted.
(c) after sub-rule (2), the following sub-rule shall be inserted, namely:-
"(3) Due diligence in relation to synthetically generated information: (a) Where an intermediary offers
a computer resource which may enable, permit, or facilitate the creation, generation, modification,
alteration, publication, transmission, sharing, or dissemination of information as synthetically generated
information, it shall ensure that,—
(i) it deploys reasonable and appropriate technical measures, including automated tools or other
suitable mechanisms, to not allow any user to create, generate, modify, alter, publish, transmit,
share, or disseminate, as the case may be, any such synthetically generated information that violates
any law for the time being in force, including the Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023),
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (32 of 2012), Explosive Substances Act,
1908 (6 of 1908), and includes any such synthetically generated information that,—
(I) contains child sexual exploitative and abuse material, non-consensual intimate imagery
content, or is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invasive of another person's privacy,
including bodily privacy, vulgar, indecent or sexually explicit; or
(II) results in the creation, generation, modification or alteration of any false document or
false electronic record; or
(III) relates to the preparation, development or procurement of explosive material, arms or
ammunition; or
(IV) falsely depicts or portrays a natural person or real-world event by misrepresenting, in a
manner that is likely to deceive, such person's identity, voice, conduct, action, statement,
or such event as having occurred, with or without the involvement of natural person; and
(ii) every such information not covered under sub-clause (i) of clause (a) is prominently labelled in
a manner that ensures prominent visibility in the visual display that is easily noticeable and
adequately perceivable, or, in the case of audio content, through a prominently prefixed audio
disclosure, that can be used to immediately identify that such information is synthetically
generated information which has been created, generated, modified or altered using a computer
resource and such information shall be embedded with a permanent metadata or other appropriate
technical provenance mechanisms, to the extent technically feasible, including a unique
identifier, to identify the computer resource of the intermediary used to create, generate, modify
or alter such information;
(b) the intermediary shall not enable the modification, suppression or removal of the label, permanent
metadata, including the unique identifier, displayed or embedded in accordance with sub-clause (ii) of
clause (a).".
4. In the said rules, in rule 4,—
(a) after sub-rule (1), the following sub-rule shall be inserted, namely:-
"(1A) A significant social media intermediary which enables displaying, uploading, or publishing
any information on its computer resource shall, prior to such display, uploading, or publication, —
(a) require users to declare whether such information is synthetically generated
information;
(b) deploy appropriate technical measures, including automated tools or other suitable
mechanisms, to verify the accuracy of such declaration, having regard to the nature,
format, and source of such information; and
(c) where such declaration or technical verification confirms that the information is
synthetically generated, ensure that the same is clearly and prominently displayed with
an appropriate label or notice, indicating that the content is synthetically generated:
Provided that where such intermediary becomes aware, or it is otherwise established,
that the intermediary knowingly permitted, promoted, or failed to act upon such synthetically
generated information in contravention of these rules, such intermediary shall be deemed to have
failed to exercise due diligence under this sub-rule.
Explanation. For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that the responsibility of the
significant social media intermediary shall extend to taking reasonable and proportionate
technical measures to verify the correctness of user declarations and to ensure that no
synthetically generated information is published without such declaration or label.".
(b) in sub-rule (4), for the words “endeavour to deploy technology-based measures, including automated tools
or other mechanisms", the words "deploy appropriate technical measures, including automated tools or other
suitable mechanisms" shall be substituted.
5. In the said rules, in rule 7, for the words "the Indian Penal Code", the words, figures and brackets "the
Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (45 of 2023)" shall be substituted.
[F. No. 2(5)/2025-CyberLaws]
AJIT KUMAR, Jt. Secy.
Note: The principal rules were published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (i), vide
notification number G.S.R. 139(E), dated the 25th February, 2021 and subsequently amended vide notification
number G.S.R. 794(E), dated the 28th October, 2022; G.S.R. 275(E), dated the 6th April, 2023; and G.S.R. 775(E),
dated the 22nd October, 2025.