India’s latest regulations are set to challenge the effectiveness of current technologies for identifying and labeling deepfakes. On Tuesday, the country introduced new mandates requiring social media platforms to swiftly remove unlawful AI-generated content and ensure all synthetic media is clearly marked. This move comes after years of tech companies expressing their desire to self-regulate, but they now face a legal deadline of February 20th to comply with these demands.

With a staggering one billion internet users, predominantly young, India represents a pivotal growth market for social media. The implications of these new regulations could have a global impact, potentially improving deepfake moderation or highlighting the need for innovative solutions in detecting synthetic content.

The revised Information Technology Rules in India now compel digital platforms to implement “reasonable and appropriate technical measures” to prevent the creation and distribution of illegal AI-generated audio and visual content, commonly known as deepfakes. Any synthetic media that isn’t automatically blocked must include “permanent metadata or other appropriate technical provenance mechanisms.” Social media companies are also required to mandate user disclosures of AI-manipulated materials, employ tools to verify these disclosures, and clearly label AI-generated content, such as adding verbal notices to AI audio.

However, achieving these goals is challenging due to the current limitations of AI detection and labeling systems. The C2PA (Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity) system, one of the most advanced tools available, attaches detailed metadata to digital media at the time of creation or modification, which invisibly explains its origin or alteration.

Despite the adoption of C2PA by tech giants like Meta, Google, and Microsoft, its effectiveness is questionable. Platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn do apply labels to content identified by C2PA, but these labels are often hard to discern, and some synthetic content lacking the necessary metadata manages to bypass detection. Additionally, platforms cannot label media without provenance metadata, especially those created by open-source AI models or apps that opt-out of the voluntary C2PA standard.

According to DataReportal and reported by Reuters, India has an extensive social media presence with 500 million YouTube users, 481 million Instagram users, 403 million Facebook users, and 213 million Snapchat users, making it X’s third-largest market. This massive user base underscores the importance of effective regulation and moderation of synthetic content.

Interoperability is one of the C2PA’s biggest issues, and while India’s new rules may encourage adoption, C2PA metadata is far from permanent. It’s so easy to remove that some online platforms can unintentionally strip it during file uploads. The new rules order platforms not to allow metadata or labels to be modified, hidden, or removed, but there isn’t much time to figure out how to comply. Social media platforms like X that haven’t implemented any AI labeling systems at all now have just nine days to do so.

Meta, Google, and X did not respond to our request for comment. Adobe, the driving force behind the C2PA standard, also did not respond.

Adding to the pressure in India is a mandate that social media companies remove unlawful materials within three hours of it being discovered or reported, replacing the existing 36-hour deadline. That also applies to deepfakes and other harmful AI content.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) warns that these imposed changes risk forcing platforms into becoming “rapid fire censors.” “These impossibly short timelines eliminate any meaningful human review, forcing platforms toward automated over-removal,” the IFF said in a statement.

Given the amendments specify provenance mechanisms that should be implemented to the “extent technically feasible,” the officials behind India’s order are probably aware that our current AI detection and labeling tech isn’t ready yet. The organizations backing C2PA have long sworn that the system will work if enough people are using it, so this is the chance to prove it.