ETtech Explainer: The grievance committees formed by IT ministry and what they will do

ETtech looks at what these GACs would do:

Why were the IT rules amended?

The social media rules were amended to bring in an additional tier of adjudication to redress grievances that users may have against how social media platforms initially addressed their complaints regarding content and other issues.

Social media companies including Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as Twitter had pushed for a self-regulated industry body to act as a grievance redressal forum instead of a government-backed entity. However, the IT ministry decided to go ahead with a centrally appointed GAC.

Who has been appointed on these three committees?

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Of the three, one panel will be led by the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Indian Cyber Coordination Centre (ICCC) of the Ministry of Home Affairs (currently Rajesh Kumar), and will comprise retired Indian Police Service officer Ashutosh Shukla, and former chief general manager and chief information officer of Punjab National Bank Sunil Soni.The second committee, led by the joint secretary in charge of policy and administration division in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (currently Vikram Sahay), and include Indian Navy’s former director (personnel services) Commodore Sunil Kumar Gupta (retired), and former vice-president of L&T Infotech Kavindra Sharma.

The third panel will be led by an IT ministry’s scientist G (currently Kavita Bhatia) and will comprise Sanjay Goel, a retired Indian Railway Traffic Service officer, and Krishnagiri Ragothamarao Murali Mohan, the former managing director and CEO of IDBI Intech.

What will be the term of the grievance appellate committee members?

While the chairpersons of the three committees have been appointed ex-officio, meaning the officer holding the posts at the ICCC, I&B ministry and Meity will lead the respective committees, the other whole time members have been appointed for a term of three years.

How can users appeal decisions with the GACs?

The IT ministry said the GAC will be a virtual platform that will operate only online and digitally. The entire appeal process, from filing of appeal to the decision will be conducted digitally. The government has created a portal on https://www.gac.gov.in where users will be able to file their appeals.

Users will have the option to appeal against the decision of the grievance officer of the social media intermediaries and other online intermediaries before the new appellate body, and the committee will attempt to address the user’s appeal within a period of 30 days, it said.

When will these committees start functioning?

In an official statement, the Meity said: “Keeping in view of the transition period required for the intermediaries as per their requests and technical requirement, the online platform will be operational in one month of this notification of the grievance appellate committee, i.e. from 1st March 2023. Periodic reviews of GACs and reporting and disclosures of GAC orders will also be part of process”.

(Illustration by Rahul Awasthi)