India tightens social media grip as X, YouTube, Meta face 3-hour takedown rules

India’s government said on Tuesday ‍social media companies would have to take down unlawful content within three hours of being notified, tightening an earlier 36-hour timeline in what could be ⁠a compliance challenge for Meta, YouTube and X.

The changes amend India’s 2021 IT rules, which have already been a flashpoint between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and global technology companies.

The amended rules also relaxed ‍an earlier proposal that would have required platforms to visibly label AI-generated content ‍across 10 per cent of its surface area or duration, instead mandating that such content be “prominently labelled”.

The tighter timeline marks the latest ‍escalation in India’s efforts to control online speech, with a takedown regime that has drawn criticism from digital rights advocates and prompted clashes with companies including Elon Musk’s X.

Facebook-owner Meta declined ‌to comment ⁠on the changes, while X and Alphabet’s Google, which operates YouTube, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.