{"id":23,"date":"2026-10-08T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T05:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/influencepr.in\/blog\/?p=23"},"modified":"2026-10-08T10:55:42","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T05:25:42","slug":"asci-ai-content-labelling-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/influencepr.in\/blog\/asci-ai-content-labelling-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"ASCI’s AI content labelling rules (Sept 2026): what brands and creators must change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Short answer:<\/strong> ASCI’s Guidelines for Responsible Labelling of Synthetically Generated Content in Advertising, released on 29 September 2026, ask brands to label AI-made visuals or audio only when they could sway a purchase and mislead without a label, such as AI influencers, cloned voices or demos of unbuilt products. Fake endorsements and deepfakes stay banned, label or not.<\/p>\n

Last updated: 8 October 2026. Written by Ankur Banerjee<\/a>, Entrepreneur in Residence, Influence. This is a practical reading of public documents, not legal advice.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Key fact<\/th>\nDetail<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Issued by<\/td>\nThe Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the industry’s self-regulatory body, established in 1985 (ASCI press release<\/a>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Document<\/td>\nGuidelines for Responsible Labelling of Synthetically Generated Content in Advertising, dated 17 September 2026 (full text<\/a>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Announced<\/td>\n29 September 2026, after consultation on a draft released in May 2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Start date<\/td>\nThree months from publication. ASCI’s documents give no calendar date; exchange4media reports 1 January 2027 (report<\/a>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Who must act<\/td>\nAdvertisers, with creators sharing responsibility for disclosure on influencer posts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Core test<\/td>\nDoes the synthetic content materially influence a buying decision, so that leaving out a label would mislead?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n

What counts as synthetically generated content under ASCI’s rules?<\/h2>\n

Synthetically generated content, in ASCI’s 2026 guidelines, is any audio or visual material in an ad that a computer has created or materially altered so that it looks real and could be mistaken for a real person or a real event.<\/strong><\/p>\n

ASCI’s own wording covers content that is “artificially or algorithmically originated, created, generated, modified, or materially altered using a computer resource, to appear real, authentic or true” and that depicts a person or event so that it is “indistinguishable from a natural person or a real-world event” (ASCI guidelines<\/a>). That wording closely mirrors the definition of synthetically generated information in the IT Rules amendment notified by MeitY on 10 February 2026 (consolidated IT Rules<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Two practical consequences follow. First, the trigger is realism, not the tool: an obviously animated mascot is unlikely to fall inside the definition at all. Second, text is outside it: the definition only covers audio, visual and audio-visual content, which is why AI-written copy needs no label.<\/p>\n

What must be labelled, what needs no label, and what is banned outright?<\/h2>\n

The final guidelines sort synthetic content into three buckets. The examples below are ASCI’s own, from the final text<\/a> and the press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Chart
ASCI’s three buckets, simplified. Source: ASCI guidelines, clauses 1 to 3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. Prohibited, even with a label<\/h3>\n