X Stops Publishing Compliance Reports After Synthetic Media Rules Take Effect

Social media platform X has stopped publishing its monthly compliance reports in India since February 2026, when new regulations concerning synthetic media came into force. The last report published by the company covered the period from January 26 to February 25, 2026. This cessation of reporting is notable as India's Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, mandate that significant social media intermediaries—those with over 5 million registered users in India—must publish a monthly report detailing complaints received and actions taken.

The consequences of non-compliance can be severe. An intermediary failing to adhere to these rules risks losing the safe harbor exemption from liability granted by India's Information Technology Act, 2000, for third-party content. X had previously acknowledged its obligation on its transparency page to publish monthly reports regarding its processing of user reports from India.

Five full reporting periods have concluded without any filings since the last report was published. These periods span from late February to late July 2026. This reporting gap coincides precisely with the period during which X should have been implementing new obligations. These amendments require platforms to deploy technical measures against unlawful synthetic content and to label other synthetic content prominently, including embedding metadata and unique identifiers.

Compared to peers like WhatsApp and Meta, which continue to publish their reports, X's silence is particularly conspicuous. These missing reports would have offered insights into how the platform handles complaints and removes content, especially concerning synthetic media. The timing of X's reporting lapse aligns exactly with the duration of the new regulatory regime.

MediaNama has sent detailed questions to both X's press team and India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) regarding the missing reports and measures taken to comply with the new rules. No responses have been received yet. The situation is also pertinent given the ongoing Sahyog Portal case concerning content takedown architecture.