On 28th January 2023, The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY) notified that the government had established 3 Grievance Appellate Committees (GACs), with 3 members each, to address the grievances of the users against the content moderation decisions of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook in India.
- The GACs are established based on the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“IT Rules 2021”) amended in October 2022.
Note:
The IT Rules 2021 provide for creating avenues for grievance redressal apart from Courts and ensure that the Constitutional rights of Indian citizens are not contravened by any Big-tech Platform by ensuring new accountability standards for significant social media intermediaries(SSMIs)
About GACs:
i.The GAC will create a culture of responsiveness amongst all Internet Platforms and Intermediaries towards their consumers.
ii.The GACs will be a virtual Digital platform that will operate only online and digitally, where the entire appeal process (filing to decision) will be conducted digitally.
iii.The appeals can be made at https://www.gac.gov.in. The platform will be operational from 1st March 2023.
iv.The Committee will work to address the user’s appeal within a period of 30 days.
Member of GACs:
i.The 3 GACs will have a chairperson and 2 whole time members.
ii.The chairperson will be a government official while the members are retired government officials and senior executives from different industries.
iii.The members of the committee are appointed for a 3 years term.
| GAC | Chairperson (ex officio) | Members |
|---|---|---|
| Panel 1 | Rajesh Kumar, Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA)
| Ashutosh Shukla, Retired Indian Police Service (IPS)officer.
Sunil Soni, former Chief General Manager and Chief Information Officer of Punjab National Bank(PNB). |
| Panel 2 | Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary in charge of Policy and Administration Division, MeitY.
| Retired Commodore Sunil Kumar Gupta, Former Director (Personnel Services), Naval Headquarters, Indian Navy
Kavindra Sharma, the former vice-president (consulting) of L&T Infotech Limited |
| Panel 3 | Kavita Bhatia, Senior scientist at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
| Sanjay Goel, Former Indian Railway Traffic Service (Retired)
Krishnagiri Ragothamarao Murali Mohan, former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IDBI Intech Limited |
Key Points:
i.This will enable the users to file an appeal against the social media platform if they are not satisfied with the decisions of the platform on removing or moderating any content.
ii.The pile of unaddressed grievances by the intermediaries created the need for the establishment of the GACs.
iii.The GACs are a vital part of the overall policy and legal framework that ensures open, safe and trusted, and accountable internet in India.
About Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY):
Union Minister– Ashwini Vaishnaw(Rajya Sabha- Odisha)
Minister of State– Rajeev Chandrasekhar(Rajya Sabha- Karnataka)
