India Introduces 24-Hour Deadline for Social Media to Remove Non-Consensual Content

Image Source: Internet

In a move to curb the spread of non-consensual intimate images (NCII) online, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued a new Standard Operating Procedure (SoP). The directive requires social media platforms and other intermediaries to remove or disable access to such content within 24 hours of receiving a complaint. The SoP, released on Tuesday, follows a Madras high court direction in October and aims to protect individuals from online harassment. It mandates intermediaries to act on complaints from individuals, authorized representatives, or government agencies and to notify the complainant of the removal action. Significant social media intermediaries are required to use technology to proactively detect and remove reuploads of NCII. Platforms must also share unique digital fingerprints of reported images or videos with the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) through the Sahyog Portal. The I4C will maintain a secure database to prevent the resurfacing of the same material. To ensure compliance, the SoP sets up a coordination mechanism between intermediaries and government entities. The I4C will act as the central point for aggregating all NCII-related takedown requests and maintaining the hash bank. The department of telecommunications will work with internet service providers to block flagged URLs, while MeitY will coordinate with intermediaries to ensure compliance. Experts believe that the SoP will be effective only if citizens are made aware of it. Dhruv Garg, partner at the Indian Governance & Policy Project, said that the main thrust of the SoP should be in publicizing the remedies available to victims to quickly manage the dissemination of NCII. The SoP is an evolving document, and the ministry has requested stakeholders to verify the latest version on the MeitY website and ensure that the latest version is used at any given time.