According to documents obtained by HT, the Union government intends to move on with the creation of committees that will have the last say in whether social media content is left up or taken down. An change to the IT Rules, 2021 will shortly bring this into force.
A grievance redressal commission, as envisioned by the Center, would give the government the final say over online expression, according to civil rights organisations who criticised the concept when it was first published in June as a draught notification seeking public opinion.
Following public comment, a revised version keeps the general idea but changes the grievance committee structure to several ones and allows intermediaries to take "necessary steps" to prevent users from posting illegal information.