WhatsApp names grievance officer. Here’s how customers can contact

WhatsApp has lastly introduced its grievance officer for India. It has named Paresh B Lal as its grievance officer for the nation. On its web site, Facebook-owned instantaneous messaging app writes that now customers can contact Paresh B Lal by means of a put up field in Banjara Hills in Hyderabad, Telangana.

WhatsApp’s transfer comes within the backdrop of the brand new IT guidelines coming into impact final week. India’s new IT guidelines, introduced on 25 February 2021, require “significant social media intermediaries” — these with different 50 lakh customers — to nominate a grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer. And, these personnel are required to be resident in India.

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The guidelines additionally require these social media platforms to publish a month-to-month compliance report mentioning the main points of complaints obtained and motion taken on the complaints in addition to particulars of contents eliminated proactively.

News company PTI experiences that giant digital corporations like Google have begun updating their web sites to mirror the appointment of grievance officers as per the brand new social media guidelines.

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Google’s ‘Contact Us’ web page has the main points of Joe Grier as a contact individual with an handle from Mountain View, US. The web page additionally exhibits the main points of the grievance redressal mechanism for YouTube.

As per the brand new guidelines, all intermediaries must prominently publish on their web site, app or each, the identify of the grievance officer and his/her contact particulars. The officer must acknowledge the grievance inside 24 hours and get rid of grievance inside 15 days from the date of its receipt.

Under the brand new guidelines, social media platforms must take down flagged content material inside 36 hours, and take away inside 24 hours content material that’s flagged for nudity, pornography and so on.  

The Centre has mentioned the brand new guidelines are designed to stop abuse and misuse of platforms, and supply customers a sturdy discussion board for grievance redressal. 

The new guidelines additionally require vital social media intermediaries – offering companies primarily within the nature of messaging – to allow identification of the “first originator” of the data, that undermines sovereignty of India, safety of the state, or public order.

According the federal government, the principles search to empower the customers by mandating the intermediaries to ascertain a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the customers or victims.

“Intermediaries shall appoint a Grievance Officer to deal with such complaints and share the name and contact details of such officer. Grievance Officer shall acknowledge the complaint within twenty four hours and resolve it within fifteen days from its receipt,” it mentioned.

(With inputs from PTI)

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