Social media: Appeal panels may be set up for grievances

In a draft of proposed amendments to the Information Technology Rules 2021 (IT Rules), the MeitY said, “The Central Government shall constitute one or more Grievance Appellate Committees, which shall consist of a Chairperson and such other Members, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint”.

The proposal has triggered concerns about the government overriding social media companies’ content decisions. Incidentally, the draft amendments were uploaded to the MeitY’s website earlier Thursday morning, but were subsequently taken down by afternoon. Sources in the Ministry told The Indian Express that the draft would be re-uploaded sometime next week following an official announcement. Queries sent to the MeitY remained unanswered until publication.

Under the IT Rules, released in February last year, social media companies like Facebook and Twitter are mandated to appoint India-based resident grievance officers as part of their due diligence as ‘intermediaries’ who enjoy legal immunity from third-party content on their platform. These officers are responsible for overseeing the grievance redressal mechanism of complaints from the people who use their services. This means that if a user has an issue with an account or a piece of content on a social media platform, they can complain about it to the company’s grievance officer who will have to act and dispose of that complaint within 15 days.

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What MeitY’s draft essentially suggests is that in case a user is not satisfied with the content moderation decision taken by a company’s grievance officer, they can appeal that decision before the proposed government-appointed appeals committee. “Every order passed by the Grievance Appellate Committee shall be complied with by the concerned intermediary,” the ministry said in the draft.

Currently, the only remedial measure a user has if they feel a content decision by a company is unfair is to approach the courts. “The Grievance Appellate Committee is set up to provide an alternative to a user to file an appeal against the decision of the Grievance Officer rather than directly going to the court of law,” the draft said. “However, the user has the right to seek judicial remedy at any time”. The Ministry has not specified the composition of the committee and if it will consist of only people from the government or also include former judges and people from the industry. The committee will have 30 days to act on a user’s appeal.

The proposal has invited criticism from civil society. In a statement, the Delhi-based digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation said, “The proposal, without any legislative basis, seeks to subject content on social media to the direct scrutiny of the Government by permitting users to appeal decisions of social media platforms to a Grievance Appellate Committee constituted by MeitY”. The draft also proposes to place additional responsibilities on grievance officers. It suggests that if a user complains about content which is “patently false”, infringes copyright, and threatens the integrity of India, among other things, a grievance officer will have to expeditiously address it within 72 hours. Current rules require these officers to address all content-related complaints within 15 days.

The IT Rules, since implementation in May last year, have run into several legal troubles. Last year, WhatsApp filed a lawsuit against a particular provision in the rules which requires encrypted messaging platforms to trace the identity of the originator of a message. In its lawsuit, the company said that implementing the provision would dilute its encryption security and present a privacy-risk to users’ personal conversations.