The government has set up three grievance appellate committees to look into users’ complaints against social media companies such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and Instagram and they will commence operation from March 1, the ministry of electronics and IT said on Saturday.

However, cyber freedom activists said the constitution of the GACs raises concerns regarding their independence. It would make the government the arbiter of permissible speech on the internet. It may also incentivise social media platforms and intermediaries to suppress any speech unpalatable to the government.

“Inadequate representation of civil society and members with expertise in areas such as online trust and safety will also affect their ability to engage with complex issues,” Apar Gupta of Internet Freedom Foundation said.

“An Indian social media platform received about 4.68 million user complaints in September. If even 1 per cent of these user complaints reach a GAC, it will have to deal with at least tens of thousands of appeals, raising doubts around its feasibility to operate at such a scale,” he said.

“Keeping in view the transition period required for the intermediaries according to their requests and technical requirement, the online platform will be operational in one month of this notification i.e. from March 1, 2023,” an official statement said.

According to the notification, each of the three GACs will have a chairperson, two whole-time members from different government entities and retired senior executives from the industry for a term of three years from the date of assumption of office.

“The GAC is a critical piece of overall policy and legal framework to ensure that the Internet in India is open, safe and trusted and accountable. “The need for GAC was created due to large numbers of grievances being left unaddressed. GAC is expected to create a culture of responsiveness amongst all Internet Platforms and Intermediaries towards their consumers,” the statement said.

Supreme Court lawyer N.S.Nappinai, the founder of Cybersaathi, which focusses on safety in digital spaces, said:“The construct of a grievance appellate committee being victim-facing was and continues to be important. That it’s been constituted expeditiously is also welcome. However, apart from the very creation being tenuous given its genesis, that the mode and manner of functioning of the committee still remain opaque is a cause for concern.”