Facebook, Twitter Could Soon See Tougher Regulations On Content Removals In India

After bringing in the Information Technology Act to regulate content on social platforms, India is now mulling appointing appeal panels to take final calls on social media takedowns.

What Happened: The Information Technology Ministry under the Indian Government has sought public comments on a draft proposal that seeks to amend the information technology rules.

The Centre has proposed grievance appellate panels that would moderate the content on social media giants. The draft further added that those dissatisfied with the action taken against content by the panel can appeal to the committees within 30 days of the decision.

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Platforms such as Meta Platforms Inc’s FB Facebook and, Instagram, Alphabet Inc’s GOOGL GOOG Google, and Twitter Inc TWTR are mandated to follow the directions of the panels. Otherwise, they may lose safe harbor or immunity from prosecution under the Information Technology Act’s Section 79.

When the government introduced the Information Technology Act in February 2021, it mandated that social media companies appoint grievance redressal officers to hear complaints and respond within 15 days.

The proposed amendment says that the platforms must “acknowledge the complaint, including suspension, removal or blocking of any user or user account or any complaint from its users in the nature of request for the removal of information or communication link.. within twenty-four hours and dispose of such complaint within a period of fifteen days from the date of its receipt.”

International social media giants have been under the scanner of the PM Narendra Modi-led government for a while in India.

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, the shares of Meta Platforms and Twitter ended in red on Wednesday, whereas Alphabet Inc Class A shares ended 0.11% higher.

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