Grievance Appellate Committee Portal

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What is the Background in which the Portal Launched?
• Why is the GAC Portal Launched and How will it Operate?

Why in News?

Marking a shift in how social media content is moderated in India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) launched the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) portal under the IT Rules, 2021.

This will allow people who are dissatisfied with complaints to social media companies on content takedown requests, to be heard by one of three Committees constituted by the government.

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What is the Background in which the Portal Launched?

• The IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 were amended last year to require social media companies to respect the rights accorded to the citizens under the Indian Constitution (Articles 14, 19 and 21).
• The initial proposal had stemmed from users’ complaints about being de-platformed or being removed from a social media site, without companies giving them an adequate avenue of hearing.
• Three Committees were formed to receive complaints to put these amendments into action.
• The IT Rules already require platforms to have a process for accepting complaints against content and appeals against takedowns from users.
• However, companies’ decisions in response to these appeals, will now ultimately be subject to the GACs’ orders.
• According to experts, this is a case of substantive statutory provisions being formulated through the process of subordinate legislation without any parliamentary debates.
• The MeitY has indicated that it is working on a “Digital India Bill” to give a firmer statutory backing to the IT Rules and other digital lawmaking.

Why is the GAC Portal Launched and How will it Operate?

• Looked over by 3 grievance appellate committees (GACs), the portal (gac.gov.in) is an extension of the government’s views, policies and vision about creating easier ways of the grievance redressal of Digital Nagrik.
• Anyone aggrieved by a decision of the grievance officer (of a social media platform) will be allowed to file an appeal to the GAC within a period of 30 days.
• The GAC will have to deal with the appeal and resolve it within a month of the receipt of the appeal.
• The first panel, which will look into complaints related to national security, will be chaired by the chief executive officer of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The second panel will focus on complaints related to fake news and misinformation and will be chaired by the joint secretary in charge of the Policy and Administration Division in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
• The third panel will be chaired by Kavita Bhatia, a senior scientist at the MeitY and will be responsible for handling complaints that do not fall under the ambit of the other two committees.
• GACs can also seek assistance from people who may have adequate expertise and experience in a subject matter while dealing with users’ appeals.
• The GACs will adopt an “online dispute resolution mechanism” where the entire appeal process, from its filing to the final decision, will be done online.

Q1) Why is the Grievance Appellate Committees (GAC) portal launched?

Looked over by 3 grievance appellate committees (GACs), the portal (gac.gov.in) is an extension of the government’s views, policies and vision about creating easier ways of the grievance redressal of Digital Nagrik.

Q2) What is the mandate of the three Grievance Appellate Committees (GAC)?

The IT Rules, 2021 were amended and three GACs were formed to put these amendments into action. The first panel looks into complaints related to national security. The second panel will focus on complaints related to fake news and misinformation. The third panel will handle complaints not under the ambit of the other two committees.

Source: Govt portal to report unresolved social media complaints goes live | TH

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3G_LUKieiQ