How can I get pictures of myself deleted from the internet?

Yes. Three independent legal bases empower you to demand removal of personal images:

(1) Section 12 of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA) — the Right to Erasure lets you require a Data Fiduciary (the platform) to delete personal data once the purpose for processing is complete or consent is withdrawn;
(2) IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 — intermediaries must remove unlawful content within 36 hours of a court order or government direction; non-consensual intimate imagery must be removed within 24 hours of a user complaint;
(3) Common-law privacy claims — a civil suit for invasion of privacy and an injunction against publication.

If the platform is based outside India but accessible to Indian users, Indian law still applies under the IT Act's extraterritorial provisions (Section 75).

The Right to be Forgotten (RTBF) is the right to require the erasure of personal information from public-facing platforms once it no longer serves a legitimate purpose. India's framework has three sources:

(1) Constitutional — the Supreme Court in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India, (2017) 10 SCC 1 (the 9-judge Privacy judgment) recognised RTBF as part of the fundamental right to privacy;
(2) Statutory — Section 12 DPDPA codifies the right;
(3) Case law — multiple High Courts (Delhi, Madras, Karnataka, Orissa) have applied RTBF to delist personal information, criminal records of acquittal, and historical articles. See for example the Delhi High Court's Jorawer Singh Mundy orders.

RTBF is balanced against the public's right to know — it applies most strongly to private individuals and least to public figures or genuine matters of public interest.

The IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (as amended in 2022) impose strict deadlines:

(1) Non-consensual intimate imagery (nudity, sexual acts, morphed images depicting same) — 24 hours from a user complaint to the platform's Grievance Officer;
(2) Generally unlawful content (defamation, IP infringement, content prohibited by law) — 36 hours from a court order or government direction;
(3) Grievance Officer must acknowledge any user complaint within 24 hours and dispose of it within 15 days;
(4) Significant Social Media Intermediaries (5 million+ users) must publish monthly compliance reports.

Failure to comply costs the platform its 'safe harbour' protection under Section 79 of the IT Act, exposing the intermediary to direct liability for the unlawful content.

Escalate in this sequence:

(1) Re-send your complaint to the Grievance Officer, citing the 24-hour/15-day deadline from Rule 3 of the IT Rules, 2021, with screenshots;
(2) Escalate to the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) at gac.gov.in within 30 days of an unsatisfactory response. The GAC is a quasi-judicial body that can direct the platform to act;
(3) Cybercrime portal — for non-consensual intimate imagery, file at cybercrime.gov.in ('Women/Child Related Crime') or call 1930. The cyber cell can issue takedown directions;
(4) Writ petition in the High Court for urgent removal — courts grant interim orders within days for non-consensual intimate imagery;
(5) Civil suit for injunction and damages, including a John Doe dynamic injunction binding all platforms.

Engage a reputable, specialised cyber-law/privacy lawyer in these situations:

(1) The content has been re-uploaded after takedown — a lawyer can seek a John Doe (or 'dynamic') injunction from the High Court, which binds all platforms to remove any copy of the same content automatically;
(2) You want damages for reputational harm or distress — Indian courts increasingly award compensation in cyber-defamation and privacy cases;
(3) The poster is anonymous — a lawyer can move the court for directions to platforms to disclose user data;
(4) The content is on a foreign platform that's slow to act — a lawyer can liaise via the IT Act's extraterritorial provisions and treaty mechanisms;
(5) The content relates to a deepfake — see our specific deepfake remedies guide.

Lawyer fees for content takedown typically range ₹15,000-₹1,00,000 depending on whether it's a notice-only matter or a litigation.