Social Media Grievances: Appellate Panel By The Centre In Three Months

The centre, under the Narendra Modi government, on 28 October, issued a new set of rules and regulations pertaining to content on social media platforms.

Soon, the government-appointed appellate panel, meant to deal with the users’ grievances, will be formed, the government release said. 

Users could approach the grievance appellate committees if they are unhappy about the decision or ruling of the social media intermediary or grievance officer, within 30 days of the ruling.

Further, the government notified that every order passed by the grievance appellate committee shall be binding on the intermediary in question. 

The users’ appeal against the social media intermediary would have to be settled in 30 days, once reported to the government's appellate committee.

Earlier, social media networks had made a case for a self-regulatory body. The grievance appellate committee shall include a chairperson and two full-time members appointed by the centre. 

The entire dispute-resolution process would be online, from the users making an appeal to the decision taken by the committee.

Further, the notification states that the grievance appellate committee, if required, can seek the assistance of any person with requisite qualifications, experience, and expertise. 

While most complaints must be acknowledged by the social media intermediary in 24 hours and be resolved in 15 days, a few categories of complaints have been marked for resolution in less than 72 hours.

This includes content that is obscene, pornographic, paedophilic, invades bodily privacy, harasses on the basis of gender, or ethnicity, encourages gambling, or incites violence. 

Further, content that is harmful to children, misleads the user about the origins of the message, communicates false information, is impersonating someone else, or threatens the security, unity, integrity, and defence of the country will also fall under this category.

Content that contains virus or malware aimed at the functionality of a hardware resource is also included. 

The new rules announced have been collectively termed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022, and will be in force immediately.