IT: As a result of the most recent changes to the IT Rules, businesses including matrimony websites, dating apps like Tinder and Bumble, online marketplaces for classified ads like JustDial.com, and online retailers like Amazon and Flipkart are also required to pay closer attention to consumer complaints.
For instance, there have been cases when fraudulent IDs for women that were put on dating and matrimony websites were left up despite requests from the offended parties. There have been instances where women’s phone numbers, images, and other details were inappropriately and without their consent put on dating websites, which resulted in harassment.
And when customers complained, the matrimonial websites and matchmaking services sometimes didn’t answer at all or responded slowly. According to the new regulations, the grievance officers of the corporations must act quickly lest a customer have the option of taking them to the Grievance Appellate Committees (GAC) for resolution, a government source informed the sources.
Amended rules have a wider scope
While the discussions to date have centred on businesses like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube as well as social media messaging, the source claimed that the amended rules have a wider scope because they cover dating, matrimonial, e-commerce, and online classifieds, where users have a significant presence but no effective complaint redressal mechanism.
“If the consumer is granted a stay by the GAC, the corporations must follow the ruling or else file a case with the top court. A favourable GAC ruling may even be given more weight in court, and the corporation that is refusing to act may even be ordered to be banned. Consequently, people will gain power.
The source gave other examples, stating that there have been instances of unlawful goods being offered on e-commerce platforms, including slippers with the nation’s flag or images of deities, cigarette ashtrays shaped like a woman’s private parts, and slippers with the country’s flag drawn on them.
“While some of them might not appear to be unlawful, they are unethical. Now, a citizen or platform user can ask the company’s grievance officer to remove the product immediately; if that doesn’t work, he can go to the GAC.
There have also been instances where information about a lady was illegally distributed by online classified companies, many of which even offer information about massage parlours. “Someone might post a woman’s phone number without her consent. What will she do if the grievance officer won’t take her complaints seriously? She can now go to the GAC if she wants to.
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If the government is not pleased with the response, fines may be imposed.
The government has also emphasised that if businesses continue to fail to respond efficiently to legitimate consumer complaints, it may go beyond the GACs and impose penalties. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Information Technology and electronics, indicated that if the government is not pleased with the response, fines may be imposed. “The choice is always available. But first, we’ll examine how the businesses react to the new Rules,” he told the sources.
The minister claimed that the government receives “consumer complaints in lakhs” from people who claim that company grievance officers ignore their requests.
We have always sincerely hoped that the middlemen (consumer platforms) will comprehend and pay attention to the complaints of the users, as opposed to acting merely tokenistically. However, since there was no progress, we chose to move forward with the idea of GACs.
According to the minister, the modifications require internet service providers to make sure that no illegal or false information is disseminated on their platforms. “Earlier, the only responsibility intermediaries had was to inform consumers of the rules. But going forward, the platforms will have far more clear-cut obligations. In order to prevent illegal content from being posted on the sites, intermediaries will need to take precautions.
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