NEW DELHI: Starting November 1, only senior officials of the rank of joint secretaries or directors general of police can issue orders to social media platforms to remove unlawful content. Besides, every such takedown order will be subject to a monthly review by a secretary-level officer to ensure the actions remain lawful, necessary, and proportionate.

These provisions are part of the amendments to the IT Rules, 2021, notified on Wednesday. Under the amended rules, all takedown requests must include clear legal basis, specific statutory provisions, and details such as URLs or identifiers of the content.

The new provisions, introduced through the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2025, aim to make the removal process more tran

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