Government publishes new social media proposal for grievance redressal

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has re-released a policy proposal on creating customer grievance redressal systems for social media companies in India. The policy was released and retracted last week as well, but will soon be open for public comments.

In a communique seen by Economic Times, the new regulations aim to provide "more effective grievance redressal" and plug "infirmities and gaps" in the current laws. The public has 30 days from publishing of the draft to send comments, and a formal public consultation would be arranged by mid-June.

"There have been many instances that grievance officers of intermediaries either do not address the grievances satisfactorily and/or fairly. In such a scenario, the need for an appellate forum has been proposed to protect the rights and interests of users,” the ministry said.

Accompanying the press release, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in a tweet that there will be "no impact on Indian startups".

Apart from aiding grievance redressal, the new rules will aim create new accountability standards for significant social media intermediaries.