Following a legal tussle with Elon Musk’s X, the central government has announced changes to Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology Rules. These amendments are set to take effect on November 15.

Under the revised rules, only officers of the joint secretary or equivalent ranks will have the authority to order the removal of online content deemed unlawful by the government. In the case of police departments, this power will be limited to officers of the rank of DIG or above. Officials issuing such orders must now provide a detailed explanation of the legal grounds for their decisions.

The move comes a month after the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by X, which had challenged the removal of posts through the government’s Sahyog portal. In its order, the court observed that regulating social media is extremely important, especially in cases involving crimes against women, as failure to do so violates the constitutional right to dignity.

Notifying the changes, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that all such directives for removal must be reviewed monthly as an additional safeguard.

Meanwhile, the Internet Freedom Foundation said the amendment had cemented the Sahyog Rules, 2025. It said the abuse of Sahyog had been seen when railway officials issued takedown orders relating to reports and videos of a stampede at Delhi railway station on February 17. “By contrast, the new ‘reasoned intimation’ route under the Sahyog Rules, 2025, bypasses hearings and inter-ministerial committee checks, shifting to monthly in house reviews by the Secretary of the very requesting department,” the IFF said.

“IFF contests that the Sahyog Rules, 2025 will instill any form of accountability as they cement a foundation for secret censorship at an exponential scale. Due this we urge for the suspension of their operation beyond November 15, 2025 and for an open public consultation to be conducted consistent with the PCLP, 2014.”

The ministry has also proposed changes to the IT Rules to clearly label videos generated through artificial intelligence tools. The move is aimed at increasing the accountability of social media platforms amid the spread of deepfakes and misinformation.

The proposed rules require platforms to label AI-generated content with markers covering at least 10 percent of the surface area of a visual display or the initial 10 percent of the duration of an audio clip.

Small teams can do great things. All it takes is a subscription. Subscribe now and power Newslaundry’s work.