India: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology extended consultation on Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Second Amendment Rules 2026

On 21 April 2026, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology extended the consultation deadline on the draft Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Second Amendment Rules 2026 to 7 May 2026, having previously extended the deadline to 29 April 2026. The extension was granted to allow stakeholders to comment on a further proposed amendment to Rule 3(3)(a)(ii), which would require intermediaries to display a continuous and clearly visible label on synthetically generated information throughout the duration of the content in any visual display. The earlier draft published on 30 March 2026 would, in addition, clarify that intermediaries' existing obligations under Rule 3(1)(g) and Rule 3(1)(h) on the preservation of removed content and the retention of user registration information operate without prejudice to retention requirements under other laws, would insert a new Rule 3(4) requiring intermediaries to comply with any clarification, advisory, direction, standard operating procedure, code of practice or guideline issued in writing by the Ministry as part of their due diligence obligations under section 79 of the Information Technology Act 2000, would extend the application of Part III of the Rules to news and current affairs content hosted by users who are not publishers, and would expand the mandate of the Inter-Departmental Committee under Rule 14 to include matters referred directly by the Ministry. The updated draft notification and consolidated text of the Rules were published on the Ministry's website.