'Scope of appellate panels for social media grievance to be announced soon'

IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday said the modalities defining the structure and scope of Grievance Appellate Committees will be worked out soon, and hoped that their formation will, in fact, discourage social media platforms from continuing with their "casual" and "tokenism" approach to address user grievances.

The government on Friday tightened IT rules, paving the way for the setting up of grievance appellate panels, which will settle issues that users may have against the way social media platforms initially addressed their complaints regarding content and other matters.

The government says that the "broken" grievance redressal mechanism currently being offered by intermediaries (read social media platforms) and lakhs of messages flagging users' concerns around unresolved complaints had forced its hand.

"Grievance Appellate Committee will be an important institution in the coming days for internet and intermediaries. We will make an announcement about its structure, .