New Delhi, Nov. 12 -- Social media platforms and online intermediaries must remove or disable access to non-consensual intimate images within 24 hours of receiving a complaint, the ministry of electronics and information technology said in Standard Operating Procedures released on Tuesday. The SOPs, published on the ministry's website, follow an October direction from the Madras High Court while hearing a plea filed by a woman lawyer whose private images had repeatedly surfaced online. Drawing from the IT Act, 2000, the IT Rules, 2021, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, and the BNS, 2023, the procedures outline the removal process for non-consensual intimate imagery. The SOPs apply to intermediaries including social media platforms, content-hosting services, search engines and domain name registrars. Platforms must take down flagged content within 24 hours and acknowledge the action to the complainant.htc...