Facebook names Spoorthi Priya as grievance officer for India

According to the new government guidelines, social media companies with over 50 lakh users have to appoint a grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer.

Social media platform Facebook named Spoorthi Priya as its grievance officer for India, the company said on its website. This move comes close on the heels of the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, coming into force last month.

WhatsApp, Facebook, and Google had shared information on their compliance officer, resident grievance officer and nodal contact person with the government on May 29. (Reuters/For Representation Purposes Only)

According to the new government guidelines, social media companies with over 50 lakh users have to appoint a grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer. All three personnel will have to be residents of India. Facebook owned messaging platform WhatsApp appointed Paresh B Lal as the grievance officer a few days ago.

WhatsApp, Facebook, and Google had shared information on their compliance officer, resident grievance officer and nodal contact person with the government on May 29. Two days after the new IT rules kicked into action.

Under the new rules social media platforms also have to publish the name and other relevant information of the grievance officer on their website so that users can easily reach out to them. The grievance officer has also been tasked with ensuring that the complaint is acknowledged within 24 hours and properly disposed of within 15 days from the date it is lodged, and receive and acknowledge any order, notice or direction issued by the authorities.

Social media platforms will also have expedited the process of taking down flagged content within 36 hours. Any content flagged for nudity or pornography will have to be taken down within 24 hours. Non-compliance with the orders will result in the companies being held liable for criminal action.

Besides this, social media companies have also identified the first originator of a message upon an order by a competent court or executive authority, and adopt features such as traceability of messages and voluntary user verification.