The Indian government has directed social media companies to remove 'unlawful content' within three hours of being notified, reducing the earlier 36-hour compliance window.

The revised timeline is part of amendments to the Information Technology Rules, 2021, according to official notifications. The updated regulations will come into effect on 20 February.

As per a report by Reuters, the amended rules also relaxed an earlier proposal that would have required platforms to visibly label AI-generated content across 10 percent of its surface area or duration, instead mandating that such content be 'prominently labelled'.

The government directive did not give any reason for the change in the timeline for takedowns.