Grievance Officer Under IT Rules 2021: Does Your Website Need One?

The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 require intermediaries to appoint a grievance officer and publish how users can complain. If your website lets users post content (reviews, listings, comments, uploads) or you host other people's sites, you should understand these rules.

Who needs one

• Intermediaries: hosting providers, marketplaces, classifieds, forums, social and review platforms, apps with user uploads
• Significant social media intermediaries (very large platforms) have extra duties such as a chief compliance officer and resident grievance officer
• A simple brochure website with no user content is usually not an intermediary, but publishing a contact for complaints is still good practice

What to publish

On your website or app, prominently:

• Name of the grievance officer
• Contact details (email is common) and how to submit a complaint
• Your rules/terms, privacy policy and user agreement

Timelines

Under the Rules, the grievance officer should:

• Acknowledge a complaint within 24 hours
• Resolve it within 15 days of receipt
• Act within 24 hours on complaints about content that exposes a person's private areas, shows nudity or sexual acts, or impersonates someone in such material

Amendments in 2022 also added Grievance Appellate Committees where users can appeal decisions. Check the current notified rules for updates.

A simple process

1. A dedicated complaint email or form
2. Automatic acknowledgement with a reference number
3. A log of complaints, actions and dates
4. Template replies for common issues
5. A way for the content owner to respond (counter-notice). See counter-notice

Joboo Web's legal request form works this way: every complaint gets a ticket number, documents are stored privately, and progress can be tracked.

FAQs

Can the grievance officer be the owner?

For small businesses, often yes. Larger platforms have additional requirements.

Is an email address enough?

It's commonly accepted, but a form with reference numbers makes tracking and proof easier.

This article is general information, not legal advice.