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 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.

In June, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the Indian government’s proposal to set up a grievances appellate panel follows several complaints that social media platforms are not adequately redressing the issues raised by the people.

The Minister of State for Electronics and IT held an open house discussion with stakeholders on a draft notification to amend the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The government has proposed to set up a grievance panel that will have the power to override the decisions of social media companies and other internet firms.

The social media platforms need to act on complaints that violate Indian laws and cannot contravene the rights of citizens granted under the constitution, he added.