NEW DELHI: Seeking to have better control over social media content, the government on Friday notified the revised IT rules to set up appellate panels to decide the removal of content on these platforms. These panels will now decide whether contentious content should stay on or be taken down from social media platforms. They will have the power to overturn content moderation decisions taken by social media platforms.
According to the notification, the government will set up one or more grievance appellate committees within the next three months. Each panel will have three members — a chairperson and two whole-time members. These panels will have to acknowledge complaints within 24 hours and resolve the matter in 15 days. The changes in IT Rules came into effect on Friday.
The panels will look at objectionable religious content, pornography, trademark infringements, fake information and any content that could be a threat to the sovereignty of the nation. There have been many instances where the government and social media companies have been at loggerheads over the content posted on these platforms.
Currently, social media firms can refuse to remove flagged content if they feel it is not objectionable and doesn’t violate the platform’s rules. But under the new rules, they will have to follow the direction of the grievance appellate committees.