Panel To Be Set Up By Nov 30, Grievance Appellate Committee Contours In 10-12 Days: MoS IT On Amended IT Rules

The central government will come out with proposed modalities and terms of references for setting up grievance appellate committees to address the complaints of social media users in the next 10-12 days.

Representative image.

The central government will come out with proposed modalities and terms of references for setting up grievance appellate committees to address the complaints of social media users in the next 10-12 days and expects the panel to be set up by November 30, according to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State (MoS) For Electronics and IT.

The laws will not be "pick and choose" or there will be no "cherry-picking" option for social media platforms, the MoS for IT was quoted as saying by news agency PTI on Tuesday.

Chandrasekhar also said once the government comes out with the proposed framework for GAC (grievance appellate committees), it will be followed by meetings and discussions with stakeholders.

In a bid to rein in the big tech companies, the central government last week announced amendments to information technology (IT) rules that will apply to social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter and also ensure that they abide by local laws and constitutional rights of Indian users. The Centre has notified new rules under which it will set up appellate panels to settle grievances that users may have against decisions of social media platforms on hosting contentious content.

The new rules provide for setting up appellate committees which can overrule decisions of the big tech firms on takedown or blocking requests. The hardening of stance against the big tech companies comes at a time when discontent has been brewing over alleged arbitrary acts of social media platforms on flagged content, or not responding fast enough to grievances.

The tweaking of IT rules in the country allow formation of Centre-appointed panels, that will settle often-ignored user grievances against content decision of social media companies, Chandrasekhar said last week, adding that this was necessitated due to the "casual" and "tokenism" approach of digital platforms towards user complaints so far.