A grievance appellate tribunal, according to the government, should resolve consumers' concerns about the material on social media platforms.

In order to address the complaints of social media users, the Centre announced on Friday that centrally appointed appellate tribunals would be established in three months.

The establishment of grievance appeal panels would be made possible by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022, which were announced by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

According to the gazette notification, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2022, must be implemented 'within three months of the date of commencement.' 'By announcement, the Central Government shall create one or more Grievance Appellate Committees.'

Two full-time members nominated by the national government shall make up each Grievance Appellate Committee's chairperson.

The committees will have the authority to order social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook to delete information. According to a ministry official, 'the committee to decide complaints against intermediaries including Twitter or Facebook for broadcasting obscene, pornographic information along with the stuff that threatens the unity and integrity of India.'

According to the published rules, any user who is dissatisfied with a judgement made by an intermediary's own grievance officer has 30 days to file an appeal with the government-appointed Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC).

Within 30 days, the GACs must make an effort to find a solution and may possibly enlist professional assistance. In order to execute the full appeal process digitally, from the filing of the appeal to the decision made thereon, the panels would use an online dispute resolution method.

The grievance appellate panel will handle such an appeal 'expeditiously' and try to reach a final decision within 30 days of the appeal's receipt date.

The social media companies first claimed they would have an internal process in place to handle complaints about content and other issues, but the Ministry chose to move through with its plan to create a committee that would be selected by the government. The committees were established in order to provide social media users a chance to resolve their grievances as soon as possible rather than going to court.

According to the government, the most recent action will provide users with a grievance appeal system in the form of appellate panels that will examine complaints made by people against the judgments of grievance officers of social media platforms.

Currently, social media companies are required to have an internal grievance redress officer and designate executives to work with law enforcement. The corporations would be required, under the revised guidelines, to respond to user complaints within 15 days, or within 72 hours in the case of an information deletion request, and to acknowledge them within 24 hours.