Govt rolls out grievance committee for social media platforms

The Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC), a portal under the IT Rules of 2021, was launched on February 28 by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and IT.

This portal will let people file complaints in case they are dissatisfied with content takedown requests.

These complaints would be heard by one of three government-constituted committees, which were formed in January. Digital intermediaries—including Meta-owned Facebook and Google—would also have to be a part of the platform. These firms would be required to use the portal to address complaints, reports suggest.

Last year, the government had announced a need to set up a committee in a bid to resolve complaints apart from courts, according to The Economic Times. Each Grievance Committee is required to have two fulltime members and a chairperson, who would be appointed by the Central Government. In this committee, two members shall be independent while consisting on an ex-officio.

The GAC is now open and accepting appeals, where the entire process—start to end—will be conducted digitally.

This development comes at a time when there seems to be a shift in the moderation of social media content. While the social media platforms already have a complaint processing in place, the final decision will lie in the hands of GAC.