Three grievance panels established by the centre to address customer complaints about social media platforms

The formation of three grievance appellate committees has been announced by the Union government. These panels would handle user complaints regarding social media and other internet-based platforms. Additionally, these tribunals will have the authority to monitor and overturn judgements made by these platforms about content moderation.

Each of the three grievances appellate committees (GACs) will have a chairperson, two full-time members from various government entities, and retired senior executives from the industry for a term of three years starting on the date of assumption of office, according to the notification, which was released late Friday night.

The proposal has previously drawn criticism over fears that government appointed panels will be able to dictate content-moderation decisions taken by social media firms.

First panel

The first panel will be chaired by the chief executive officer of the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ashutosh Shukla and Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) former chief general manager and chief information officer Sunil Soni have been appointed as the whole-time members of the panel.

Second panel

The second panel will be chaired by the joint secretary in charge of the Policy and Administration Division in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Indian Navy’s retired Commodore Sunil Kumar Gupta and Kavindra Sharma, the former vice-president (consulting) of L&T Infotech, have been appointed as the whole-time members of this panel.

Third panel

The third panel will be chaired by Kavita Bhatia, a senior scientist at the Ministry of Electronics and IT. Former traffic service officer of the Indian Railways Sanjay Goel and former managing director and chief executive officer of IDBI Intech Krishnagiri Ragothamarao have been appointed as the whole-time members of the third panel.