Advocacy Groups Demand Transparency On GAC Orders Over User Appeals Against Social Media Giants

Several digital rights groups have sought the disclosure of the orders made by the government-appointed grievance appellate committees (GAC) under new social media rules.

Periodic reviews of GACs, and reporting and disclosures of GAC orders, will also be part of the process, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said while notifying the three GACs. However, the government has not publicly disclosed the orders so far, ET reported.

The GACs have received 42 appeals since these became operational, out of which 24 have been disposed of.

According to Kazim Rizvi, founder of the public policy think tank The Dialogue, it is important to understand the nature of the appeals made to the GACs, the category of the grievances, and the time taken for redressal.

He is of the view that such information will bring more transparency in the grievance redressal process and the functioning of GAC. He also added that it is important to understand the number of appeals heard by each of the three constituted GACs to ensure the efficiency of the committees. This will encourage more users to report their grievances if they are unsatisfied with the platforms’ decisions, Rizvi added.

“The GACs are doing the job of resolving grievances. There should be more disclosure and transparency in the system, for better functionality. They should disclose the nature of GAC orders,” Rahul Sharma, director of advisory firm Grade Ace, said.

GACs should provide a redacted version for public consumption, protecting the identifiers of the complainants, or bring out a monthly report analysing and summarising the orders, Sharma said.

Meanwhile, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) also wrote to the chairpersons of the three GACs earlier this month, requesting to release the process and details of the periodic reviews. Besides, IFF sought details of all intermediaries under the Information Technology Act, 2000, against which platforms users have filed appeals till now.

The three GACs, which were mandated under the amendments brought in by the government in IT Rules, 2021, to address users’ complaints against social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, were launched in late February.

The GAC will work as a faceless dispute resolution mechanism that would make digital platforms – big and small, accountable to ‘Digital Nagriks’, MeitY said in a statement.

Social media users who are dissatisfied with the actions of the grievance officers of these platforms can take their complaints to the GACs instead of going to courts against the decision of such platforms.