Government Publishes Fresh Draft Of Amendments To 'IT Rules 2021,' Proposes Appeal Committees

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on June 6 issued a re-revised draft of the amendment to the Information Technology Rules 2021 (IT Rules 2021). Firstly, the government published a draft a week before, which they pulled out within some hours. The new draft proposes the formation of government-appointed appeal committees, which will have the exclusive legal power to reject the content-moderation decisions taken by Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and other significant social media intermediaries (SSMIs).

'Understand It First', the IT Rules 2021 introduced by the government last year prescribes a regulatory framework for content regulation of online publishers (current affairs, news, audio-visual content, and other content). The act also directs the SSMIs to set up a mechanism to redress grievances, which will aid in resolving complaints from social media users. The publishers are also prescribed to form a three-tier tool for determining grievances with self-regulation.

Know The Amendments Proposed

The draft of amendments to the IT Rule 2021 suggests the formation of government-appointed appeal committees which would be empowered to reject the content-moderation decisions taken by SSMIs. It means that if the user is not satisfied with the decision of content moderation taken by the grievance redressal officer of the company, the user can directly request the appeal committee for a revised decision. "The Central Government shall constitute one or more Grievance Appellate Committees, which shall consist of a Chairperson and such other Members, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint," reads the draft by MeitY.

The ministry further adds that every direction given to the company by the appeal committee shall be complied with, reports The Indian Express.

Over and above, the amendment brings extra responsibility for the grievance redressal officer of the company. In case a user files a complaint to the company about content that threatens the country's integrity, infringes copyright, or is fake content. The grievance officer must take action within 72 hours of the prescribed time. For now, the time limit is of 15 days to resolve the issue.

Things Led To This Draft of Amendment

The ministry mentions that the requirement of IT Rules 2021 is to maintain the speedy and consistent mechanism for redressal of grievances filed by the users of an intermediary.

But, in many instances, the government encountered that the intermediary's grievance cell officer doesn't address the complaints of the user satisfactorily.

Thus, an alternate forum for raising complaints has been suggested keeping the interest and rights of the users into consideration, The Indian Express reported.

The press release, which was issued on Monday by the MeitY, adds that the suggested amendments will also protect and guard the 'Constitutional Rights' of the Indian citizen.

Netizens' Reaction Over Amendment Decision

This government decision has brought concerns to social media users as the government hopes to become the decision-making body for content moderation on social media platforms.

The Internet Freedom Foundation, in its Tweet, said, "MeitY will essentially be able to appoint itself to sit on top of social media platforms, & decide what millions of Indians can or cannot say on their Facebook or Twitter profiles. This is being done with no transparency or accountability measures built into the Rules."

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