The Bar Council of India (BCI) has directed all State Bar Councils and Centres of Legal Education to immediately implement the social media and digital ethics guidelines and ensure that all advocates, students, interns, and other staff are sensitised to them. The circular aims to address the use of social media in ways that affect the BCI’s dignity and professional ethics. Students will be required to submit an undertaking at the time of admission and a separate undertaking before the commencement of every internship, the circular directed the Centres of Legal Education.
The circular, issued on July 17, 2026, by Srimanto Sen, Principal Secretary, BCI, applies to all advocates, law students, and interns, urging them to be mindful of what they post on social media. This includes the misuse of court premises, judicial proceedings, live-streamed proceedings, professional identity, client and chamber material, misleading legal content, artificial intelligence-generated material, deepfakes, voice-cloned audio, and other synthetic or manipulated content.
The council has asked the concerned authorities to effectively implement the guidelines, stating that the circular should not only be published but also ensure that every individual is sensitised to its provisions.
BCI’s Directive To Centres of Legal Education
Students will be required to submit a standalone undertaking during the admission process, as per the new guidelines.
“Obtain the prescribed standalone undertaking from every student at the time of admission and a separate undertaking before commencement of every internship,” the BCI circular stated.
The Centres of Legal Education have been asked to incorporate the circular into their admission, internship, legal aid, moot court, placement, and institutional conduct guidelines.
All Centres of Legal Education must circulate the circular among their teaching and non-teaching faculty, students, research scholars, interns, faculty coordinators, internship cells, legal aid cells, placement cells, and other persons connected with their academic and professional activities, the circular stated.
State Law Council Directions By The BCI
The State Bar Councils must ensure that all advocates are made aware of the applicable standards concerning digital ethics, advertisement and solicitation, confidentiality, court decorum, legal misinformation, and the misuse of artificial intelligence or synthetic content.
The councils must implement a prescribed standalone affidavit or compliance acknowledgement for future enrolments in accordance with the guidelines issued in the circular. They should also circulate the circular to every advocate enrolled in the state and every Bar Association functioning under their jurisdiction.
BCI Social Media Guidelines Official Circular
The BCI also directed the State Bar Councils to designate a “Digital Ethics Committee, Nodal Group or Nodal Officer” for receiving and examining complaints, preserving relevant material, counselling first-time violators, and referring serious or repeated violations to the competent authority.
