Panels to keep tabs on social media firms

NEW DELHI: The government on Saturday notified three grievance appellate committees (GACs) to look into users‘ complaints against social media firms, the Ministry of Electronics and IT said.

“Given the transition period required for the intermediaries as per their requests and technical requirement, the online platform will be operational within one month of this notification of the Grievance Appellate Committee, i.e. from 1st March 2023,” the ministry said.

The GACs, constituted of three members each, have been formed based on the recently amended Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules 2021).

Users will have the option to appeal against the decision of the grievance officer of the social media intermediaries and other online intermediaries before this new appellate body. The Committee will endeavour to address the user’s appeal within 30 days.

The first panel will be chaired by the chief executive officer of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ashutosh Shukla and Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) former chief general manager and chief information officer Sunil Soni have been appointed as the whole-time members of the panel. The second panel will be chaired by the joint secretary in charge of the Policy and Administration Division in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.