Google, Facebook begin updating website under new IT rules

Large digital companies like Google and Facebook have begun updating their websites to reflect the appointment of the grievance officers under the new social media rules that came into effect recently According to government sources large social media companies like Google Facebook and WhatsApp have shared details with the IT Ministry as per the requirement of the new digital rules but Twitter is still not following the normsThe new rules require significant social media intermediaries those with other 50 lakh users to appoint a grievance officer nodal officer and a chief compliance officer These personnel are required to be resident in India Industry sources said Facebook and WhatsApp have already shared their compliance report with the Ministry of Electronics and IT and that the details of the new grievance officers appointed are being updated to replace the existing information on these platformsGoogles Contact Us page shows details of Joe Grier as a contact person with an address from Mountain View US The page also contains details on the grievance redressal mechanism for YouTube As per the rules all intermediaries have to prominently publish on their website app or both the name of the grievance officer and hisher contact details as well as the mechanism by which a user or a victim may make a complaintAlso ReadTwitter pauses blue badge verification rolling in applicationsThe grievance officer will have to acknowledge the complaint within 24 hours and dispose of such complaint within a period of 15 days from the date of its receipt and receive and acknowledge any order notice or direction issued by the authorities The government sources on Friday had said that Twitter is not following the norms Twitter has not sent details of the chief compliance officer to the IT Ministry and shared details of a lawyer working in a law firm as a nodal contact person and grievance officer they addedThis when the IT rules clearly require these designated officers of the significant social media platforms to be employees of the company and resident in India they pointed out While Twitter did not respond to email queries on the issue its website mentions Dharmendra Chatur as the Resident Grievance Officer for India Interim Google Facebook and WhatsApp also did not respond to detailed email queries on the appointment of the personnel as required by the new IT rulesThe sources had earlier said that besides Google Facebook and WhatsApp other significant social media intermediaries like Koo Sharechat Telegram and LinkedIn too have shared details with the ministry as per the requirement of the IT norms Under the new rules social media companies will have to take down flagged content within 36 hours and remove within 24 hours content that is flagged for nudity pornography etcThe Centre has said the new rules are designed to prevent abuse and misuse of platforms and offer users a robust forum for grievance redressal Noncompliance with the rules would result in these platforms losing the intermediary status that provides them immunity from liabilities over any thirdparty data hosted by them In other words they could be liable for criminal action in case of complaintsAfter the new norms came into effect on May 26 the IT Ministry had turned up the heat on significant social media companies asking them to immediately report compliance and provide details of the three key officials appointed The new IT rules also require significant social media intermediaries providing services primarily in the nature of messaging to enable identification of the first originator of the information that undermines the sovereignty of India the security of the state or public orderThe large platforms have to also publish periodic compliance reports every month mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken thereon and the number of specific communication links or parts of information that the intermediary has removed or disabled access to in pursuance of any proactive monitoring conducted by using automated tools or other reasonsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever