Government plans to set up a panel that can reverse content moderation decisions made by social media platforms Problematic in many ways. idea, which has been proposed as an amendment to the controversial IT Rules, 2021, to constitute one or more Appellate Committees, which shall take a final decision on any content moderation issue facing the social media platform. The trigger for these government-appointed committees to come to life would be an appeal from a social media user, who feels aggrieved by an order from the grievance officer of the forum. “Government policies and regulations are committed to ensuring an open, secure and reliable and accountable internet for its users. As internet usage in India is increasing rapidly, new issues related to the above commitments also emerge. The draft reportedly says. It would be naive to think of such an aggrieved user as someone who has no ax to grind. With billions of users, social media is well and truly an influential machine , and is full of influential people of all colors and shades. Therefore, it is important for a democracy not to be taken over by any one influential player, even if it is the government, with an agenda.
But this is exactly what the mechanism will help serve – tightening the government’s grip on messaging over social media middlemen that not long ago worked to channelize alternative voices. Imagine how absurd it would be, for example, if a government-appointed committee sat down to decide on an issue in which the aggrieved user is a government entity or a member of a ruling party. How just can it be? What is worse is that in recent years, both in the real world and on social media, the government has not covered itself with glory when dealing with dissent. This will not only add another layer of complexity to the problematic IT regulations introduced last year but will also add another lever of government control. The IT regulations were widely criticized by this newspaper for the kind of benefits given to the government over digital channels, with troubling implications for freedom of expression and right to information. Ironically, they were launched by the then minister as a “soft-touch oversight mechanism”. It should be noted that those rules haven’t had the final word on them, with legal challenges pending against them. All this is not to say that social media platforms should not be regulated. far from it. What should be clear after all these years is that a government committee is not the right answer to many crises, let alone social media. And in this case, it comes with dangerous implications for free speech. Therefore, it is best that the offer is dropped.