First of its kind: India mulls social media appeals panel to take on Big Tech
India is mulling the decision to set up an appeals panel which would take on Big Tech content decisions – and be the first of its kind worldwide.
Appeals against company grievance offers, who are currently responsible for content moderation decisions at social media companies, have a 30-day deadline to be submitted.
However, the appeals panel would have up to 60 days to take up the matter.
India’s information technology ministry’s plan seeks to increase government control of social media platforms, as the country catches the eyes of Big Tech.
However, allowing the panel to appoint officers to supervise content moderation decisions could be “problematic”, according to Apar Gupta, executive director of digital advocacy group the Internet Freedom Foundation.
“This is problematic, for this committee will lack any autonomy and is being formed without any statutory, or clear legal basis,” said Gupta.
It comes as Alphabet, Google’s parent company, gave India’s tech space another vote of confidence this week, in reportedly investing into Mohalla Tech – the business behind short-video platform Moj and regional social network ShareChat.
The injection of capital comes off the back of Amazon announcing a $250m venture fund last month, dedicated to investing in Indian startups and entrepreneurs.
The country’s tech sphere grew $35bn stronger last year, with startups raising record funds in the year after the pandemic first swept the globe.
Lockdown measures in the country had spurred a wave of innovation and capital for startups focused on food delivery and digital payments, which saw IPO darling’s Zomato and Paytm take off.
Some 44 Unicorns were also created in an emerging pandemic buzz, with a further 55 expected to emerge in the coming year.