MeitY Adds Stricter AI-Generated Content Disclosure Rule, Extends IT Rules Feedback Deadline

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) proposed a new change to its draft IT Rules amendments, bringing stricter guidelines for artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content labelling across online platforms. Additionally, the Ministry has also extended the consultation deadline to submit feedback on the new rules, pushing it from April 29 to May 7. The proposed change to AI labels comes at a time when AI images and videos have surged on social media websites, and concerns regarding deepfakes and misinformation have heightened.

MeitY Tweaks AI Labelling Rule

In a fresh notice published by MeitY on Tuesday, the Ministry has taken a stricter approach towards labels for AI-generated content. In particular, a change has been proposed in Rule 3(3)(a)(ii), which pertains to how these labels will be displayed by the online platforms. Earlier, platforms were asked to ensure “prominent visibility in the visual display” of the AI labels; however, now it has been replaced with ensuring “continuous and clearly visible display of such label throughout the duration of the content, in a visual display.”

The proposed change might appear minor, but the words “continuous and clearly visible” are important here. This means that as long as the AI-generated content, be an image, video, audio, or a block of text, can be seen on the screen, the platform owners will have to continuously show the AI label in a visible manner. As a result, any temporary or flashing labels that quickly disappear cannot be used.

“In order to provide stakeholders an opportunity to examine and submit feedback on the aforesaid additional changes, along with the earlier draft amendments, it has been decided to place these additional amendments also in the public domain for consultation,” the circular stated.

Making a change in a draft amendment while it is in the consultation phase is unusual, but to ensure that the stakeholders have enough time to go through these changes and share their feedback, MeitY has also extended the deadline from April 29 to May 7. Notably, the Ministry had published the draft amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, on its website on March 30.