Whatsapp: Social media grievance panels likely in 90 days, Telecom News, ET Telecom
95105385New Delhi: The government will set up one or more centrally appointed Grievance Appellate Committees (GACs) within three months of the notification of amendments to the Information Technology (IT) Rules of 2021 under the IT Act, as per the final draft of the amended rules reviewed by ET. The idea behind setting up the committees is to give users of social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter recourse--other than approaching the courts–to settle complaints.The final draft of the proposed changes to the IT Rules of 2021, which were first released for public consultation in June, is likely to be notified in the next few days. However, the government is of the view that the platforms do not act on user grievances in a timely manner, according to people with knowledge of the matter.Companies had opposed the setting up of government-backed GACs, questioning the independence of such forums and citing concerns over freedom of speech. While the government had been asking industry to come up with a self-regulatory model, a lack of consensus among key platforms on a framework scuttled that effort.The GACs will, the rules propose, endeavour to resolve appeals within 30 days. In June this year, the government proposed certain changes after having observed that they lacked in certain areas such as a proper and effective user grievance redressal and a content regulation mechanism.
3 months ago
ET Telecom
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Telecom Asia
