Centre notifies new rules giving it power on social media moderation

NEW DELHI: The Union government on Friday notified amendments to the controversial information technology rules, 2021, making a provision for new government “grievance redressal” panels to hear complaints against content moderation decisions taken by social media companies.

The panel members will be appointed by the government which, civil liberties activists have said, will amount to giving the government the final say over what content stays up or is taken down, with the powers to overrule companies like Meta and Twitter if they remove or refuse to act on posts.