Meta, WhatsApp to rent compliance, nodal contact, grievance officers in India

Meta, previously often called Facebook, and its messaging platform WhatsApp are planning to rent for the roles of nodal contact and grievance officer in addition to chief compliance officer as mandated beneath India’s IT guidelines for big social media firms. Meta has put up ads for these positions on LinkedIn over the course of the previous few days.

The new IT guidelines, which got here into impact in May this yr, mandate that vital social media intermediaries (these with greater than 50 lakh customers) appoint a grievance officer, nodal officer and a chief compliance officer. These personnel should be residents of India.

At that point, WhatsApp had named Paresh B Lal as its grievance officer for India on its web site, whereas Facebook had named Spoorthi Priya as its grievance officer for India on its web site. While Facebook’s web page names Priya because the grievance officer, WhatsApp’s web site exhibits Varun Lamba because the grievance officer.

When contacted, Meta and WhatsApp in an e-mailed assertion mentioned, “We have appointed officers as per the requirements of the Intermediary Guideline Rules. We are actively engaged in a continued dialogue with the government on the new IT rules and we remain committed to keeping our users safe on our platform.”

They additional mentioned: “We reserve the right to seek new candidates as needed because the officers are critical roles and include the recruitment of uniquely qualified personnel to lead these responsibilities”.

Meta (previously Facebook) counts India amongst its largest markets for its household of apps. According to knowledge cited by the Indian authorities earlier this yr, there are 53 crore WhatsApp customers, 41 crore Facebook subscribers and 21 crore Instagram account holders within the nation.

As per Meta’s publish on LinkedIn, Meta is “looking for a highly motivated professional for the role of nodal contact person and grievance officer for Facebook in India”.

This individual will coordinate with regulation enforcement businesses in India, together with facilitating well timed responses to legitimate authorized requests beneath relevant regulation and our insurance policies, and also will oversee the corporate’s acknowledgement, redressal and response to person complaints and grievances, the publish mentioned.

“The splendid candidate might be an skilled skilled with vital prior expertise in working with and/or inside regulation enforcement businesses and managing person grievance programmes,” it famous.

For the chief compliance officer place, Meta mentioned: “The ideal candidate would be an experienced leader and strategic thinker with a deep knowledge of India’s evolving digital industry”.

The individual will oversee and monitor compliance with relevant legal guidelines and rules of India, together with however not restricted to the knowledge expertise legal guidelines and guidelines, on behalf of Facebook and its household of apps and merchandise.

The individual can even “work closely and creatively with cross functional teams, including Legal and Policy, in reviewing and addressing governmental regulations, agency guidelines, and policies”, as per the publish.

WhatsApp’s posts have been worded in an analogous method.

As per the brand new IT guidelines, all intermediaries should prominently publish on their web site, app or each, the title of the grievance officer and his/her contact particulars in addition to the mechanism by which a person or a sufferer could make a grievance. The grievance officer should acknowledge the grievance inside 24 hours and get rid of such grievance inside a interval of 15 days from the date of its receipt, and obtain and acknowledge any order, discover or route issued by the authorities.

The Centre has mentioned the brand new guidelines are designed to stop abuse and misuse of platforms, and provide customers a sturdy discussion board for grievance redressal. Non-compliance with the foundations would lead to these platforms dropping their middleman standing that gives them immunity from liabilities over any third-party knowledge hosted by them. In different phrases, they could possibly be responsible for legal motion in case of complaints.

After the brand new norms got here into impact on May 26, the IT ministry had turned up the warmth on vital social media firms, asking them to instantly report compliance and supply particulars of the three key officers appointed.

(With PTI inputs)

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a sound electronic mail * Thank you for subscribing to our publication.

Never miss a narrative! Stay linked and knowledgeable with Mint.
Download
our App Now!!