New IT rules from Nov 1: DIG, Joint Secretary or above to oversee social media takedowns

The Centre on Wednesday announced that only senior officers, not below the rank of Joint Secretary or equivalent, or where such a rank is not appointed, a Director or an officer of equivalent rank, can order the removal of content from social media.

The intimation on removal of social media content in case of police authorities can be issued only by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG).

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The new rules will come into effect from November 1, 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said on Wednesday.

This replaces the existing procedure which allows junior officials such as sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors to issue intimation on removal of content from social media platforms.

The ministry has brought amendments to Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology Rules, 2021, to bring the fresh changes.

Additionally, the ministry has also proposed amendments to the IT Rules for addressing the menace of deepfakes.

Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “With this change, we have raised the level of accountability in the government.”

Vaishnaw further stated that the changes will increase government transparency.

“We will provide information with reasons when information is provided. Orders will be passed through a senior-level officer. There were demands in Parliament and on numerous other forums that deep fakes were causing great harm to society. People’s personal lives and privacy were being violated,” he added.

If an intermediary fails to comply with take down notices sent under Section 79 (3)(b) of the IT Act, the platform can lose its safe harbour provisions — the provision under the IT Act which gives such platforms immunity from content posted by third parties.

Additionally, the government has said that these notices or intimation that officers sent to platforms must clearly specify the legal basis and statutory provision, the nature of the unlawful act, and the specific URL/identifier or other electronic location of the information, data, or communication link (“content”) to be removed.