India's New Compliance Requirements for Social Media Platforms
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in India has proposed a significant compliance requirement for social media platforms regarding synthetically generated information (SGI). Through amendments to the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, it has mandated that SGI must have a continuous and clearly visible label throughout the content's duration.
Key Proposals and Implications
- Continuous Display Requirement: Unlike a watermark or caption, the label must remain visible for the entire playback.
- Scope and Scale: This requirement affects a vast user base, with over 750 million internet users in India and numerous short-form video consumers.
- Technical Demands:
- Platforms must ensure the label is visible across all viewing instances, including re-shares and cross-device playbacks.
- Requires synchronization between machine-readable metadata and a human-visible overlay.
- Global Context:
- The EU requires machine-readable and human-visible disclosure but not continuous labels.
- China mandates initial visible watermarks but not full-duration labels.
- The US uses California's SB 942 and voluntary systems for labeling.
Challenges and Concerns
- Impact on Smaller Platforms: The high cost and complexity may disproportionately affect smaller entities.
- Safe Harbour Conditionality: Non-compliance could lead to the loss of liability protection under Section 79 of the IT Act.
- Regulatory Asymmetry: A continuous-label mandate could create structural advantages for larger incumbents.
Stakeholder Engagement
MeitY has extended the deadline for public comments, allowing stakeholders to address the compliance concerns prudently, particularly those surrounding deepfakes.
