Notices to social media platforms and other online intermediaries for content takedown can now be issued only by government officials ranked joint secretary or above and police officers ranked not below deputy inspector-general.

The Centre on Thursday notified the new rules, effective from November 15, after amending Rule 3(1)(d) of the Information Technology (ITR) Rules.

Intermediaries are required to remove unlawful content under court orders or a government notification. Earlier, a broad spectrum of government and police officials could order a removal.

According to the electronics and IT ministry, the amendment introduces additional safeguards to ensure that the process for removing unlawful content is transparent, proportionate and accountable.

Defenders of Internet users’ rights, however, expressed disappointment saying the amendment had reinforced the government’s year-old Sahyog portal — a centralised takedown mechanism that bypasses hearings and ministerial checks and, critics say, remains open to abuse.

Under the amended rules, the takedown directives from senior officials must come in writing, and must specify the legal basis and statutory provision, nature of the unlawful act, and the specific URL, identifier or other electronic location of the information, data or communication link to be removed.

As for the actions being proportionate and consistent with the law, the amended rules mandate that all the directives for removal be subject to a monthly review by an officer not below the rank of secretary with the government that issued the takedown order.

Advocate Apar Gupta, who defends the digital rights of Internet users, asked why the ministry had not consulted stakeholders before notifying the amendments.

He underlined that the same IT ministry had sought public consultations on its draft rules that require the mandatory labelling of artificial intelligence-generated content.

Gupta said Wednesday's amendments had facilitated the Sahyog portal. "Sahyog will likely become the default, opaque route for government takedowns, expanding both secrecy and volume," he posted on X.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, too, said the amendment had cemented the Sahyog Rules, 2025.

Citing media reports, it said the abuse of Sahyog had been seen when railway officials issued takedown orders relating to reports and videos of a stampede at Delhi railway station on February 17.

"By contrast, the new 'reasoned intimation' route under the Sahyog Rules, 2025, bypasses hearings and inter-ministerial committee checks, shifting to monthly in house reviews by the Secretary of the very requesting department," the IFF said.

The amendment comes months after Karnataka High Court rejected a legal challenge to the Sahyog portal from X Corp. The American tech company is preparing to appeal the verdict before the Supreme Court.

A note by the IT ministry said that globally, and in India, policymakers were increasingly concerned about fabricated or synthetic images, videos and audio clips (deepfakes) that are indistinguishable from real content, and were being blatantly used to produce non-consensual intimate or obscene imagery, mislead the public with fabricated political or news content, commit fraud or impersonation for financial gain.