IT ministry to conduct quarterly audit of compliance by social media firms

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) will now conduct compliance audits of social media companies every quarter, an official source said on Thursday.

At present, social media platforms are required to disclose their compliance with IT rules 2021 every month where they disclose action taken by them in response to various grievances.

"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 PTI.

To tighten the noose on social media platforms, the government has proposed to set up an appellate panel which will have the power to overrule decisions taken by social media companies with respect to any grievance. The public consultation process with respect to the proposed rule has been wrapped up by the IT ministry.