Regulating Deepfakes in India: Understanding the Draft Amendments and Their Implications

On October 22, 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”) released draft amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“Intermediary Rules”) (“Draft Amendments”) to address the harms posed by synthetically generated information (“SGI”)

As per the Explanatory Note to the Draft Amendments, the intent is to regulate deepfake content, misinformation, and other unlawful content capable of misleading users. The Draft Amendments were introduced amidst concerns of deepfake content going viral on social media platforms, depicting individuals in acts or statements to carry out financial frauds, damage reputations, influencer elections, amongst others.

These amendments have also been introduced amid criticism that existing laws, i.e., the Intermediary Rules, the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 do not contain adequate provisions addressing deepfakes.

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