Social media firms must remove ‘unlawful , hurtful’ content within three hours, says Centre

Social media companies must now remove or disable access to certain unlawful or harmful content within three hours of receiving a valid government direction, a formal grievance, or becoming aware of a clear violation, under amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, notified on Tuesday.

The new deadline — a sharp reduction from the previous 36-hour window under Rule 3(1)(d) — was not part of draft amendments released by the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) in October 2025 and has been introduced only in the final notification.