Social Media Platforms Look At Building A Self-Regulatory Body To Address Content Issues

At a time when the Indian government is tightening its grip on social media platforms, global tech giants including Meta, Twitter, Google have initiated work on formulating a self-regulatory body to tackle social media users’ appeal for content and takedown issues. 

By the end of this week or next week, social media intermediaries are likely to take the proposal to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) for detailed discussions, ET reported.

As the self-regulatory framework envisions, the tech companies are planning to create a panel that will be headed by a retired chief justice or a judge of the Supreme Court or one of the high courts of the country. In addition, the panel will include other members from the ranks of the industry, independent technology policy experts and one or two members appointed by the government.

On the other hand, the Internet And Mobile Association Of India (IAMAI) has also recommended a self-regulated body and working on bringing the industry together to build such a framework. The consultations are likely to be finalised in a week.

According to IAMAI, the plan “echoes the government sentiment about self-regulation as a policy intervention. “We believe that it is the ideal scenario for all the stakeholders involved as it achieves the government’s goal with minimal business disruption,” it said.

The developments come at a time when the government is considering forming a grievance appellate committee (GAC). In the draft amendments to IT Rules, 2021, released in June, the government proposed the formation of GAC which has raised several questions about freedom of speech and government’s control over social media.

GAC will operate as an alternate redressal mechanism where social media users, who are dissatisfied with the decision of a social media company’s grievance officer, may appeal to that committee.

As per a senior government official quoted by ET, the government has not yet received a concrete proposal from the industry. If the industry fails to come up with self-regulation, the government will have to set up a committee to address the grievances of social media users.

It must be noted that recently IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that the government is open to the idea of social media intermediaries or big tech platforms forming an effective self regulatory appellate mechanism.

Earlier, the US lobby groups including US-India Business Council (USIBC), US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), representing tech giants such as Twitter and Facebook, also expressed concerns about draft amendments to IT Rules, 2021, especially the GAC.