Is there a way of ensuring wrong India maps can’t be seen on social media platforms in India?
That was one of the main queries of government officials who adjudicate grievances related to content on social media platforms when they met representatives of the latter. The query was raised at the first in-person meeting between the members of the three grievance appellate committees (GAC) – that were established in January 2023 through October 2022 amendments to IT Rules – and social media platforms at a workshop organised by the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) on Wednesday, according to people present.
The workshop, the first of its kind organised by MeitY, saw participation from MeitY officials, chairpersons and members of the three GACs, and social media platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, Google/YouTube, Twitter/X, Telegram, Snap, and Sharechat.
The aim of the workshop was to focus improving the functioning of the GACs and making grievance redressal faster, easier, and more efficient. The GACs were created through 2022 amendments to Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Users dissatisfied with decisions made by the platform’s grievance officer can approach these government-appointed bodies.
Two GAC officials asked social media platforms if any filters or algorithmic tools could be used to prevent or remove the Indian map that excludes parts of Jammu and Kashmir from being shown in India, three people aware of the matter said.
The depiction of the unofficial map of India online is a recurrent problem that has landed multiple people and companies in trouble over the years; outside India, parts of Jammu and Kashmir are considered disputed territory. For instance, in 2020, X (then Twitter) officials were summoned by a parliamentary committee when tweets from Ladakh were geo-tagged as China. In 2022, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee received a blocking order from the information and broadcasting ministry for a video that showed the wrong map of India.
One GAC member, during the workshop, said that platforms should not send boilerplate responses to users when they reply to grievances. Instead, specific violations of platforms’ community guidelines should be highlighted , one of the three people cited above added.
GAC members also asked platforms to include date stamps in the copies of communications shared with the GAC when a user escalates a grievance. “This is so that the GAC can assess whether the platform responded in time, and whether the user escalated it within a 30-day period of getting a response from the grievance officer, as prescribed in the rules,” a second person said.
In cases of “gross injustice”, such as those related to the account of a woman being compromised, the GACs accept grievances even after this 30-day period. In such cases, they also consider grievances that are brought to the GACs directly, without first being raised with the platform’s grievance officer, as required by the rules. During the workshop, at least one GAC officer said that earlier, the GACs did not accept any grievances that were first not taken to the platform’s grievance officer, people cited above said.
In a press statement on Thursday, MeitY said that the three GACs received 2,322 appeals of which 2,081 had been resolved since their operationalisation in March 2023. To address concerns in 980 appeals, 1,214 orders were passed. Data on GAC’s official website on Wednesday evening showed that 2,388 appeals had been received of which 2,177 had been disposed.
The workshop also saw a discussion on how most appeals are related to hacking of or loss of access to personal accounts, the three people cited above said. Very few grievances involved suspension of user account by platforms, or removal of content for violating platform guidelines, two of these people added.
While in 2023, few appeals were raised, the number grew in 2024 due to increased public awareness, additional secretary Bhuvnesh Kumar said during the workshop. In 2024, over 300 appeals were filed every month, according to MeitY.