Center to form three grievance committees to address user complaints against social media platforms

The Union government has announced the formation of three grievance committees to address user complaints against social media and other online platforms. These panels also have the power to review and overturn content moderation decisions made by these platforms.

All three GACs have a chair, two full-time members from different boards and a retired senior committee member, according to an announcement late Friday. for managers in the field for three years from the date of taking office. The proposal has previously drawn criticism over fears that government panels could dictate social media content moderation decisions.

The first panel will be chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of the Cyber ​​Crime Coordination Center of the Ministry of Home Affairs, India. Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ashutosh Shukla and former Punjab National Bank (PNB) General Manager and Chief Information Officer Sunil Soni have been appointed as full-time members of the panel.

The other panel is chaired by the Joint Secretary. Under the responsibility of the Policy and Management Department of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Indian Navy retired Commodore Sunil Kumar Gupta and former LandT Infotech Vice President (Consultant) Kavindra Sharma were named as full-time members of this panel.

The third panel will be chaired by Kavita Bhatia, Senior Researcher, Ministry of Electronics and IT. Former Indian Railway Transport Services official Sanjay Goel and former IDBI Intech CEO Krishnagiri Ragothamarao were named as full-time members of the third panel. Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told Sunday Express that disputes handled by GACs fall into two categories: "One is a violation of the law and users' rights, including freedom of speech and privacy, and two, when there is a contractual dispute between the platform's community guidelines and the user." give GACs about 30 days before they can start handling user complaints so that all platforms can start registering their complaints and respond 100% to user complaints. It is submitted by a GAC ​​user, they can easily search and solve it,” Chandrasekhar added.