Gujarat High Court Seeks Response From Meta, Google, X, Reddit & Scribd On PIL Over Deepfake, AI Content; Asks Them To Onboard SAHYOG Portal

The Gujarat High Court has sought responses from social media intermediaries Meta, Google, X, Reddit and Scribd over a PIL raising concerns about the “sharp and alarming rise” in deepfake and AI-generated content circulating on digital and social media platforms. The court while issuing notice to the intermediaries asked them to also respond to affidavits filed by the State and Central governments in respect of practical implementation of the legislative framework to ensure strict compliance of due diligence obligations under Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 as amended by the Amendment Rules, 2026.In the interim the court asked the intermediaries to ensure that they onboard the Centre's SAHYOG Portal for timely action and better coordination with law enforcement agencies. Referring to the contentions in the affidavits of the State Government and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, a division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice DN Ray in its order said that issue needing consideration pertained to strict enforcement and uniform implementation of the existing statutory regime in the larger public interest, where concerns have been shown over implementation at the ends of the intermediaries. The court thus said:"Taking note of the above, we deem it fit and proper to issue notice to the intermediaries, impleaded herein as respondents no.5 to 9 (Meta, Google, X, Reddit & Scribd), returnable on 08.05.2026...We direct that the said respondents are required to answer to not only the stand of the petitioner, but also that of the State and the Central Government in the matter of practical implementation of the legislative framework and the institutional mechanisms developed for greater alignment of all intermediaries to ensure strict compliance of Due diligence obligations under the Amended Rules of 2026.In the meantime, it is directed that the respondents no. 5 to 9 intermediaries shall ensure to bring them onboard on the SAHYOG portal developed by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs for better coordination and time bound action by bringing all authorized law enforcement agencies and intermediaries on a single platform". The court in its order asked them to ensure "swift action/response" to the statutory notices issued under Section 79(3)(b) IT Act 2000 for ensuring adherence to "time bound takedown obligations" in compliance with the IT Rules."Effective and meaningful responses/action of the respondents intermediary will be key to the due diligence obligations enforced upon them under the statutory framework," the court said. The court also sought response from the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The State government submitted as per Section 79(3) (b) an intermediary cannot claim exemption or immunity from its liability to expeditiously remove or disable the access to the material, any information, data or communication connected to a computer resource which is being used to commit the unlawful act. Upon receiving actual knowledge or on being notified by the appropriate Government or its agency, it becomes the liability of the intermediaries to remove or disable access to such incriminating material. It was submitted that Section 79 embodies the doctrine of safe harbor, under which intermediaries are protected from the liability for user generated content provided they satisfy the statutory conditions laid down in the Act and comply with due diligence obligations. Further due diligence obligations contained in the Rules, are the obligations of the intermediary in relation to synthetically generated information clearly delineated.It was submitted that law enforcement agencies are facing several operational challenges in implementation of the notices issued under Section 79(3)(b) wherein lawful notices issued to the intermediaries under the statutory legal framework them and they encounter frequent delays, repeated procedural obligations and non-compliance by certain platforms. In certain cases, even after issuing show-cause notices, reiterating the legal provisions and grounds for removal, the intermediaries fail to provide any substantive reply and do not remove the offending content. The State in its affidavit thus gave certain suggestions including framing of a policy providing for robust regulatory framework mandating immediate coordination mechanism between the investigating authority and the digital service providers. It was stated that the objective of the regulatory framework is not to restrict legitimate expression, but to ensure that the digital platforms are not misused for creation and dissemination of unlawful content capable of destabilizing public order or undermining democratic institutions. The Central Government submitted that it has developed SAHYOG Portal, for routing intimations under Section 79(3)(b) read with Rule 3(1)(d). The...

Gujarat High Court Seeks Response From Meta, Google, X, Reddit & Scribd On PIL Over Deepfake, AI Content; Asks Them To Onboard SAHYOG Portal

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