[
  {
    "key": "eu",
    "jurisdiction": "European Union",
    "instrument": "Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Article 50, as amended by Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 (Digital Omnibus on AI)",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2024-06-13",
    "effective": "2026-08-02",
    "who_is_bound": "Providers of AI systems that generate synthetic audio, image, video or text; deployers of systems that make deep fakes",
    "label_rule": "Providers must mark AI-generated output in a machine-readable format so it is detectable as artificially generated (Art. 50(2)). Deployers of a system that generates or manipulates image, audio or video that is a deep fake must disclose that it was artificially generated or manipulated (Art. 50(4)). Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, in force since 27 July 2026, added Art. 111(4): providers of generative systems placed on the market before 2 August 2026 have until 2 December 2026 to comply with Art. 50(2). That extension does not cover newer systems or the Art. 50(4) disclosure duty.",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "Art. 50(2) is a machine-readable marking duty on providers; Art. 50(4) is a disclosure duty on deployers of deep fakes. Neither text sets a visible-logo requirement or addresses a user cropping a logo.",
    "source_url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1689/2026-07-27/eng",
    "source_updated": "2026-07-27",
    "caveat": "EUR-Lex pages would not load in full for us, so Regulation (EU) 2026/1744 was read from artificialintelligenceact.eu's copy of the text and from extracts of EUR-Lex.",
    "source_check": "live: EUR-Lex answers bots with a bot-check page, so the same article text is read from artificialintelligenceact.eu (Future of Life Institute)",
    "checked": "2026-11-13"
  },
  {
    "key": "us_federal",
    "jurisdiction": "United States (federal)",
    "instrument": "TAKE IT DOWN Act, Public Law 119-12",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2025-05-19",
    "effective": "2026-05-19",
    "who_is_bound": "Anyone who publishes non-consensual intimate images, real or AI 'digital forgeries'; covered platforms (notice-and-removal)",
    "label_rule": "No federal law requires AI-generated content to be labelled or watermarked. The Act makes it a crime to publish intimate 'digital forgeries' of an identifiable person without consent, and requires covered platforms to remove reported material within 48 hours of a valid request. The crime applied on enactment; the platform process was due one year later, on 19 May 2026, and the FTC enforces it.",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "Contains no label, watermark or provenance duty, and no rule about removing a visible watermark.",
    "source_url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ12/html/PLAW-119publ12.htm",
    "source_updated": "2025-05-19",
    "caveat": null,
    "source_check": "live: primary source re-read and key phrases matched",
    "checked": "2026-11-13"
  },
  {
    "key": "us_california",
    "jurisdiction": "United States (California)",
    "instrument": "SB 942 California AI Transparency Act, as amended by AB 853 (Stats. 2025, ch. 674), SB 1000 (Stats. 2026, ch. 861) and AB 2713 (Stats. 2026, ch. 856)",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2025-10-13",
    "effective": "2026-08-02",
    "who_is_bound": "'Covered providers' of generative AI systems publicly accessible in California (SB 1000 removed the earlier 1,000,000-user threshold); from 2027 also large online platforms; from 2028 makers of capture devices",
    "label_rule": "Covered providers must embed a hidden ('latent') disclosure in image, video and audio content, stating among other things whether the system created or altered it, and must offer a free disclosure verification tool. AB 853 moved the operative date from 1 January 2026 to 2 August 2026. SB 1000, an urgency statute in force since 30 September 2026, removed the duty to offer users an optional visible ('manifest') disclosure and replaced the earlier AI-detection tool. Large online platform duties start on 1 January 2027 and capture-device duties on 1 January 2028.",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "The Act now requires the hidden disclosure and no longer requires providers to offer a visible one. It binds providers and platforms, not the people who download their output.",
    "source_url": "https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB1000",
    "source_updated": "2026-09-30",
    "caveat": "leginfo blocks automated reading, so these points were read from the bill text republished by CalMatters Digital Democracy and from extracts of leginfo. Check the chaptered text before relying on subsection detail.",
    "source_check": "manual: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and mirrors answer bots with a JavaScript bot-check; read by hand from the bill text",
    "checked": "2026-11-02"
  },
  {
    "key": "india",
    "jurisdiction": "India",
    "instrument": "Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026 (G.S.R. 120(E))",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2026-02-10",
    "effective": "2026-02-20",
    "who_is_bound": "Intermediaries that let users create or share content; significant social media intermediaries (over 5 million users) additionally",
    "label_rule": "Defines 'synthetically generated information' (audio, visual or audio-visual content made or altered by computer so it appears real) and requires intermediaries to label such content clearly and prominently. Significant social media intermediaries must obtain a user declaration on whether content is synthetic (Rule 4(1A)). The draft's 10%-of-screen label size was dropped for a qualitative standard.",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "Duties fall on intermediaries and platforms: those offering tools that make synthetic content must embed metadata where technically feasible and may not enable anyone to modify, suppress or remove the label or metadata (Rule 3(3)). We found no separate offence for a user who removes a visible logo from a clip they generated.",
    "source_url": "https://www.meity.gov.in/static/uploads/2026/02/550681ab908f8afb135b0ad42816a1c9.pdf",
    "source_updated": "2026-02-10",
    "caveat": "We could not open the full Gazette text. Rule 3(3) is summarised from extracts of the rules on MeitY's site, the 20 February 2026 start date rests on government news reports, and takedown timelines are left out. A further draft amendment on continuous labels went to consultation in 2026; we found no final notification.",
    "source_check": "manual: meity.gov.in refuses automated requests (HTTP 403); read by hand from the Gazette notification",
    "checked": "2026-11-02"
  },
  {
    "key": "china",
    "jurisdiction": "China",
    "instrument": "Measures for Labeling AI-Generated Synthetic Content (国信办通字〔2025〕2号), with mandatory standard GB 45438-2025",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2025-03-14",
    "effective": "2025-09-01",
    "who_is_bound": "Generative AI service providers, online platforms that distribute content, and users who publish AI-generated content",
    "label_rule": "Providers must add explicit (visible or audible) labels and implicit labels in file metadata. Users who publish AI-generated content on a platform must declare it and use the platform's labelling function (Art. 10).",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "Art. 10: no organisation or individual may maliciously delete, alter, forge or conceal the labels required by the Measures, or provide tools or services for others to do so.",
    "source_url": "https://www.cac.gov.cn/2025-03/14/c_1743654684782215.htm",
    "source_updated": "2025-03-14",
    "caveat": null,
    "source_check": "live: primary source re-read and key phrases matched",
    "checked": "2026-11-13"
  },
  {
    "key": "south_korea",
    "jurisdiction": "South Korea",
    "instrument": "Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and Establishment of Trust Foundation (AI Basic Act), Act No. 20676, as amended by Act No. 21311, Article 31",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2025-01-21",
    "effective": "2026-01-22",
    "who_is_bound": "AI business operators that provide generative AI products or services",
    "label_rule": "Operators must tell users in advance that a product or service uses generative AI, and must indicate that generative output was AI-generated. Deep fakes that are hard to tell from reality must be clearly notified or labelled; artistic work may present the label so it does not interfere with the work.",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "Binds operators of AI services, and Art. 31 says nothing about removing a mark. Art. 43 sets fines of up to KRW 30 million for failing to give the advance notice in Art. 31(1), failing to appoint a domestic representative, or ignoring a stop or corrective order. The science ministry says it will hold off on fines for at least a year.",
    "source_url": "https://www.law.go.kr/법령/인공지능발전과신뢰기반조성등에관한기본법",
    "source_updated": "2026-07-21",
    "caveat": "law.go.kr confirms the Act numbers and dates, but its article text would not load for us, so Arts. 31 and 43 were read from casenote.kr's copy of the statute. The grace period is a government announcement with no end date given, not a term of the Act.",
    "source_check": "manual: law.go.kr renders the statute with JavaScript and elaw.klri.re.kr loads it lazily, so no program can read the article text; read by hand",
    "checked": "2026-11-02"
  },
  {
    "key": "italy",
    "jurisdiction": "Italy",
    "instrument": "Legge 23 settembre 2025, n. 132 (AI law), art. 26, creating the offence in Codice Penale art. 612-quater",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2025-09-23",
    "effective": "2025-10-10",
    "who_is_bound": "Anyone who spreads AI-made or AI-altered images, video or audio of a person without consent and causing them harm",
    "label_rule": "Italy adds a criminal offence for causing unjust harm by spreading, without consent, AI-falsified images, video or voices likely to mislead (one to five years in prison, generally on the victim's complaint). It does not add a national labelling duty beyond the EU AI Act.",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "The offence turns on harm and lack of consent, not on whether a visible watermark was removed.",
    "source_url": "https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/eli/id/2025/09/25/25G00143/sg",
    "source_updated": "2025-09-25",
    "caveat": null,
    "source_check": "live: Live check confirms the law, its Gazzetta Ufficiale date and its entry into force; the offence wording is from commentary",
    "checked": "2026-11-13"
  },
  {
    "key": "uk",
    "jurisdiction": "United Kingdom",
    "instrument": "Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, section 138 (offence of creating a purported intimate image)",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2025-06-19",
    "effective": "2026-02-06",
    "who_is_bound": "Anyone who creates, or asks another to create, a sexually explicit deepfake of a real adult without consent",
    "label_rule": "The government's March 2026 Report on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence says: 'There are no obligations in the UK for AI-generated content to be labelled.' It proposes working with industry on best practice, not a new duty. Section 138 was brought into force on 6 February 2026 by S.I. 2026/31. Sharing intimate deepfakes is already covered by the Online Safety Act regime.",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "No rule about removing a visible logo. The deepfake offence turns on consent and the content, not on watermarks.",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/18/section/138",
    "source_updated": "2025-06-19",
    "caveat": "The section 138 offence provisions extend to England and Wales only. legislation.gov.uk pages would not load for us, so the start date was read from GOV.UK's commencement page and extracts of S.I. 2026/31, and the extent from extracts of the Explanatory Notes.",
    "source_check": "manual: legislation.gov.uk answers bots with a challenge page (HTTP 202, empty body); read by hand",
    "checked": "2026-11-02"
  },
  {
    "key": "vietnam",
    "jurisdiction": "Vietnam",
    "instrument": "Law on Artificial Intelligence No. 134/2025/QH15, with Decree 142/2026/ND-CP",
    "status": "in_force",
    "enacted": "2025-12-10",
    "effective": "2026-03-01",
    "who_is_bound": "Providers of AI systems (machine-readable marks) and deployers (labels); erasing mandatory labels is listed among the law's general prohibited acts",
    "label_rule": "Providers must mark AI-generated audio, image and video in a machine-readable format (Art. 11(2)). Deployers must put a clearly recognisable label on AI-generated or manipulated audio, image and video that simulates a real person's appearance or voice or recreates real events (Art. 11(4)). Decree 142, Art. 18, sets the detail, with exemptions such as technical quality edits, internal use and research. Systems already operating when the law began get 12 to 18 months to comply (Art. 35).",
    "visible_watermark_rule": "Art. 7(5) prohibits 'erasing or falsifying mandatory information, labels, or warnings in artificial intelligence activities'. It has no 'malicious' qualifier and does not say whether a generator's own visible logo is a mandatory label, so treat this as a real risk, not a settled answer.",
    "source_url": "https://congbao.chinhphu.vn/van-ban/luat-so-134-2025-qh15-468694.htm",
    "source_updated": "2026-01-22",
    "caveat": "The Official Gazette page confirms the law's number and dates. The article wording is from the Vietnamese government news portal's English translation, marked for reference only. Decree 142 was read on hethongphapluat.com, an unofficial legal database; Arts. 17 and 18 have no clause on removing labels, and we did not read the rest of the decree for one.",
    "source_check": "manual: Official Gazette page lists the law; article text read by hand from the Government News (VGP) translation",
    "checked": "2026-11-10"
  }
]