IT ministry proposes strict rules for labelling deepfakes amid AI misuse

The government on Wednesday (October 22, 2025) proposed new legal obligations for artificial intelligence and social media firms to tackle a growing proliferation of deepfakes online, by mandating them to label such content as AI-generated.

The potential for misuse of generative AI tools “to cause user harm, spread misinformation, manipulate elections, or impersonate individuals has grown significantly,” the IT Ministry said in a press release, explaining the rationale behind the move.

The proposed rules mandate social media companies to require their users to declare if they are uploading deepfake content.

With nearly 1 billion internet users, the stakes are high in a sprawling country of many ethnic and religious communities where fake news risks stirring up deadly strife and AI deepfake videos have alarmed officials during elections.