India: Adopted Amendment to the IT (Intermediary Guidelines & Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021 including content moderation requirements

On 6 April 2023, the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology adopted the amendments to the "Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021" in relation to online gaming and the spread of false and misleading information regarding government business. The amended rules clarify social media and other intermediaries' obligations in regard to the distribution of information that the Government classifies as "false", "untrue", or "misleading", outlined in section 3(1)(b)(v) of IT Rules. Under the Amendment, social media platforms and other intermediaries will be required to make efforts not to display, share or publish information that is classified as "false", "untrue", or "misleading" by the Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau. Furthermore, the Amendment states that platforms will be required to moderate the content classified as false about the Government upon notification.