Delhi High Court: SFI Instagram GAC Decision Due in 3 Weeks

• The Delhi High Court has directed the Central government's Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) to decide an appeal by the Students' Federation of India (SFI) regarding its blocked Instagram account.
• Justice Amit Mahajan expects the GAC to issue its decision within three weeks, a timeline shorter than the statutory four-week period for such appeals.
• SFI's Instagram account, created in 2018 with 13,000 followers, was permanently disabled on July 5 by Instagram, citing non-compliance with community standards and potential association with other rule-breaking accounts.
• SFI had appealed to Meta's grievance officer on July 9 after the blocking, but received no response before filing its appeal with the GAC on August 12.
• This ruling highlights the court's emphasis on prompt resolution of content moderation disputes by the GAC, setting a potential benchmark for future cases.

This ruling by the Delhi High Court underscores a judicial expectation for the Grievance Appellate Committee to act with dispatch in resolving disputes related to social media content moderation.

The Delhi High Court, in a recent order issued on Thursday, has directed the Central government's Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) to swiftly adjudicate an appeal filed by the Students' Federation of India (SFI). This appeal challenges the permanent blocking of the student organization's Instagram account. Justice Amit Mahajan, presiding over the matter, expressed a clear expectation for the GAC to render its decision on the SFI Instagram account blocking appeal within a three-week timeframe.

The SFI, which operates as the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), had approached the High Court seeking intervention after its Instagram presence was disabled. The court's directive aims to ensure a timely resolution for the student body, whose appeal before the GAC had remained undecided since its submission in mid-August.

The controversy originated on July 5 when Instagram permanently disabled the SFI Delhi account. The platform cited that the account “may be associated with another account that has gone against our rules” and therefore did not comply with its community standards on account integrity. However, SFI representatives stated that Instagram failed to provide any further specifics or identify the allegedly linked account, leaving the organization without clear reasons for the action.

Established in 2018, the SFI's Instagram account had amassed approximately 13,000 followers before its disablement. Following the platform's action, the student body initiated an appeal on July 7 and subsequently escalated the matter to Meta's grievance officer on July 9. Despite these efforts, SFI reported receiving no resolution or response, prompting their decision to pursue the matter further through the Grievance Appellate Committee Instagram India.

The SFI formally lodged its appeal with the Central government's GAC on August 12, seeking redress against Instagram's content moderation decision. Advocate Apar Gupta, representing the SFI, highlighted during the court proceedings that the statutory period prescribed for the GAC to decide such appeals under the IT Rules 2021 GAC timeline is four weeks. He also informed the court that similar cases had previously been resolved with judicial directions for the government to decide appeals within an additional four-week period.

Despite the statutory framework, no order had been issued by the GAC regarding the SFI's appeal at the time of the Delhi High Court's intervention. Justice Amit Mahajan's SFI order, therefore, specifically instructed the government to decide the appeal, emphasizing the court's expectation for a decision within three weeks. The High Court subsequently disposed of the SFI's plea, having issued this clear directive to the appellate body.

This ruling by the Delhi High Court underscores a judicial expectation for the Grievance Appellate Committee to act with dispatch in resolving disputes related to social media content moderation. By setting a three-week expectation for the GAC's decision, Justice Mahajan's order potentially establishes a benchmark for the speed at which such appeals should be handled, even if it is shorter than the statutory four-week period. This directive is particularly significant given the increasing number of Meta content moderation India appeal cases being brought before the GAC.

The court's emphasis on prompt resolution highlights the growing importance of the GAC as a crucial mechanism for users to challenge platform decisions. For legal practitioners, this development signals the need to advise clients on the GAC's heightened activity and the court-mandated timelines when navigating disputes concerning account blocking or content removal on major social media platforms in India.

This ruling highlights the Delhi High Court's expectation for the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) to promptly decide appeals against social media platform content moderation, setting a potential benchmark for the speed of resolution. Lawyers should advise clients on the GAC's increasing activity and the court-mandated timelines when dealing with platform account blocking or content removal disputes.

Source: Original reporting via scraped source.