India sets 3-hour deadline for platforms to remove unlawful content
India has told social media platforms they must remove unlawful content within three hours of receiving a government notice, sharply shortening the previous 36-hour window and raising fresh compliance pressure on firms such as Meta, YouTube and X.
The change, issued on Tuesday as an amendment to India’s 2021 IT rules, takes effect on 20 February.
Those rules have long been a point of friction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration and global technology companies.
India is already viewed as one of the world’s toughest regulators of online speech, forcing platforms to weigh fast compliance in a market of roughly one billion internet users against growing criticism that such powers can enable censorship.
The government order did not explain why the deadline was shortened.
“It’s practically impossible for social media firms to remove content in three hours,” said Akash Karmakar, a partner at Indian law firm Panag & Babu who specialises in technology law, arguing the new timeline leaves little room for judgment or challenge.
In recent years, India has expanded the number of officials authorised to demand removals, a trend that digital rights groups have repeatedly criticised and that has fuelled disputes with companies including Elon Musk’s X.
The revised framework allows takedown orders for content deemed illegal under any Indian law, including provisions tied to national security and public order.
Platforms’ transparency reports show thousands of such orders have been issued.
Meta said it restricted more than 28,000 items in India in the first half of 2025 following government requests.
Meta declined to comment on the latest change.
X and Google, which operates YouTube, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The move comes as governments worldwide push platforms to police harmful content more quickly, from Europe to Latin America.
One social media executive, speaking anonymously, said the rule change was not developed through consultation and noted that international norms typically allow more time.
Separately, the amended rules soften an earlier proposal on labelling AI-made content.
Instead of requiring a label to cover 10% of a piece of content’s surface area or duration, platforms must now ensure such material is “prominently labelled.”
Reuters
