The move is likely to be seen as a reigning in of big tech firms.
New Delhi:
Social media users will soon be able to approach ‘Grievance Appellate Committees’ when they disagree with content moderation or takedowns by platforms like Twitter and Facebook, the government said on Friday, tweaking its contentious new IT rules.
The change paves the way for setting up of the panels, which will settle issues that users may have against the way social media platforms initially addressed their complaints regarding content and other matters.
The committees will be set up within three months, according to a gazette notification on Friday. The move is likely to be seen as a reigning in of big tech firms, which have come under increasing scrutiny in India since a clash between Twitter and the country’s ruling BJP last year.
“The central government shall, by notification, establish one or more grievance appellate committees within three months from the date of commencement of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022,” the notification said.
Each grievance appellate committee will consist of a chairperson and two whole-time members appointed by the central government, of which one will be a member ex-officio and two shall be independent members.
“Any person aggrieved by a decision of the grievance officer may prefer an appeal to the grievance appellate committee within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of communication from the grievance officer,” it said.
The grievance appellate panel will deal with such appeal “expeditiously” and make an endeavour to resolve the appeal finally within thirty calendar days from the date of receipt of the appeal.
Under the amended rules, the companies would be required to acknowledge complaints from users within 24 hours and resolve them within 15 days or 72 hours in case of an information takedown request.
The move comes just as the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla Inc, Elon Musk, completed his $44-billion takeover of Twitter, placing the world’s richest man at the helm of one of the most influential social media apps in the world.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has had strained relations with many Big Tech companies, and the BJP administration has been tightening regulation of firms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Tension over social media content decisions has been a particularly thorny issue in the country, with companies often receiving takedown requests from the government or removing content proactively.
Social media firms are already required to have an in-house grievance redressal officer and designate executives to co-ordinate with law enforcement officials.
(With inputs from agencies)
