Act on obscene, unlawful content or face action: Govt to online platforms

New Delhi: The Centre has issued a fresh warning to online platforms, particularly social media intermediaries, cautioning them of legal action if they fail to act against obscene, vulgar, pornographic, paedophilic and other unlawful content hosted on their services.

In an advisory dated December 29, 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said intermediaries must immediately review their compliance frameworks and strengthen action against prohibited content. The ministry said failure to do so could invite prosecution under applicable laws.

“Intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, are reminded that they are statutorily obligated under Section 79 of the IT Act to observe due diligence as a condition for availing exemption from liability in respect of third-party information uploaded, published, hosted, shared or transmitted on or through their platforms,” the advisory stated.

The ministry said the warning follows its observation that several social media platforms have not been acting with sufficient consistency on content that is obscene, vulgar, inappropriate or otherwise unlawful. It reiterated that non-compliance with the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 could lead to serious consequences. “It is reiterated that non-compliance with the provisions of the IT Act and or the IT Rules, 2021 may result in consequences, including prosecution under the IT Act, BNS and other applicable criminal laws, against the intermediaries, platforms and their users,” the advisory said. The communication reminded intermediaries of their obligation to make reasonable efforts to ensure that users of their computer resources do not host, display, upload, modify, publish, transmit, store, update or share information that is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, harmful to children or otherwise unlawful. According to the ministry, there is a need for greater rigour in identifying, reporting and swiftly removing such content.

The advisory said intermediaries must act without delay to remove or disable access to unlawful content once they receive actual knowledge through court orders or a reasoned notice from the appropriate government or its authorised agency. Such action, it said, must strictly follow the timelines prescribed under the IT Rules of 2021. “The intermediaries shall not permit the hosting, displaying, uploading, publication, transmission, storage or sharing of any content that is obscene, pornographic, vulgar, indecent, sexually explicit, paedophilic or otherwise prohibited under any law for the time being in force in any manner whatsoever,” the advisory said.

Under the IT Rules, 2021, platforms are required to remove or disable access to content that is prima facie sexual in nature, including material depicting an individual in a sexual act or any impersonation of such content, within 24 hours of receiving a complaint from the affected individual or someone acting on their behalf.

The ministry has asked all online platforms to carry out an immediate review of their internal compliance frameworks, content moderation practices and user enforcement mechanisms. It directed intermediaries to ensure strict and continuous adherence to the provisions of the IT Act and the IT Rules, 2021, warning that lapses could expose both platforms and users to legal action.