The Union government is considering bringing user-generated fact-checking tools such as X’s 'community notes' under regulatory oversight through proposed amendments to the Information Technology (IT) Rules, a move that could allow authorities to seek removal of content that challenges or adds context to official claims, according to
a report by Hindustan Times (HT).
The proposed changes to the IT Rules, 2021, aim to expand the scope of regulation to include a wider range of online content, including posts by individual users, influencers and reshared material, placing them under the ambit of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) when they relate to news and current affairs.
Citing officials aware of the discussions, the report says that community notes—X’s crowdsourced fact-checking feature—could fall within this framework if they deal with issues such as politics, governance or public policy. “When a community note starts looking like it’s dealing with news, politics or public policy, it could come under scrutiny,” an official from the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) told the newspaper, adding that whether a note correcting a minister’s claim would qualify “depends on facts in each case. But it potentially could.”
On 30 March 2026, MeitY published draft amendments to extend Part III of the IT Rules—currently applicable to publishers of news and curated content—to a broader category of user-generated material. The move would formalise the government’s authority over content it does not presently regulate.
According to the HT report, this could effectively allow the government to issue takedown or blocking orders for Community Notes deemed unlawful under the expanded framework, following the standard legal process.
The report noted that earlier this year, several posts on X by Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders attracted community notes that were flagged by the government to the platform. These included posts by prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Some of these notes were subsequently removed, including one linked to a speech by the PM that questioned government policies on social justice, and another related to a post quoting Union home minister Amit Shah. However, not all such notes have been taken down. A community note under a post by president Droupadi Murmu remains visible, the report said.
A key issue flagged in the report is determining accountability for community notes, which are created collaboratively by multiple users rather than a single author. “That would have to be determined in a court based on who all have contributed,” the MeitY official told the newspaper, adding that both contributors and the platform could face scrutiny depending on the case.
The proposal has drawn pushback from industry stakeholders and civil society groups, who have questioned whether such user-generated, collaborative formats should fall under regulations designed for publishers.
Policy experts have also raised concerns about the breadth of the proposed changes. Dhruv Garg, partner at the Indian Governance & Policy Project, told HT that the expansion “appears wide enough to sweep in even intermediary-hosted, community-driven formats of content resembling current affairs and news,” potentially affecting platforms like Wikipedia and Community Notes.
The government, however, has described the amendments as largely procedural. IT secretary S Krishnan told reporters that the changes “do not in any way give us wider powers… they are only clarificatory and incidental in nature,” according to the report.
The consultation process has seen calls for clearer definitions to ensure that collaborative and community-moderated platforms are not inadvertently brought under stricter regulatory frameworks.
The deadline for stakeholder comments on the proposed amendments is 14 April 2026, though it may be extended following industry requests, the newspaper reported.
The development comes as social media platforms increasingly adopt community-driven moderation tools. While X introduced community notes in India in 2024, other platforms such as Meta are also planning similar features, raising broader questions about how such systems will be regulated in the country.
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