IT ministry to audit social media companies’ compliance on a quarterly basis

Quarterly compliance audits of social media companies will be carried out by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity).

Presently, each month, social media firms report on their compliance with IT guidelines 2021. Here, they disclose the actions they took in response to various complaints.

“Meity has now put in place a mechanism to audit compliance of social media intermediaries under IT rules every quarter. As part of the audit, the ministry will verify if social media companies are reporting about grievances raised to them correctly and if their action taken is in sync with the laid-out rules,” the source told the news agency.

The government has proposed creating an appellate panel with the authority to overrule decisions made by social media companies regarding any grievance in order to tighten the noose around these platforms. The IT ministry has concluded the public comment process about the proposed rule.