New Delhi: The Centre on Friday notified rules under which it will set up appellate panels to redress grievances that social media users may have against decisions of platforms like Twitter and Facebook on hosting contentious content.

Privacy policy and user agreements of intermediary to be made available in the Eight Schedule Indian languages

The three-member Grievance Appellate Committee(s) will be set in three months, a gazette notification issued by MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) said.

The government has, in the new rules, added objectionable religious content (with intent to incite violence) alongside pornography, trademark infringements, fake information and something that could be a threat to sovereignty of the nation that users can flag to social media platforms. Their decisions on such flaggings can be challenged in the grievance committees.

Soon after the amendments were notified, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tweeted: “Empowering users. Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) has been introduced for hearing appeals against decisions of Grievance Officer appointed by the intermediary”.

In another tweet, the minister said, “Privacy policy and user agreements of intermediary to be made available in the Eight Schedule Indian languages”.

While big tech companies had been advocating self-regulation, the government seems to have taken a view that users’ concerns about content on social media platforms need to be addressed by a grievance appellate body.

The government had, in February 2021, notified IT rules that provided for social media platforms to appoint a grievance officer. Users at the first stage flag complaints against content or another user, to the grievance officer.

The rules have now been amended through the Friday’s notification to strengthen grievance redressal mechanism. The amendments provide for social media platforms to acknowledge user complaints within 24 hours, and resolve them within 15 days thereafter.

The complaints could range from child sexual abuse material to nudity to trademark and patent infringements, misinformation, impersonation of another person, content threatening the unity and integrity of the country as well as “objectionable” content that promotes “enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion or caste with the intent to incite violence”.

The rules provide for social media platforms to take down certain contentious content within 72 hours of reporting. The appellate committees will be able to review content moderation and other decisions by social media companies such as Meta and Twitter. “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.