Grievance Appellate Committee under IT Rules orders Meta to remove fake interview of Karan Thapar from Facebook

The Central government’s Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) recently directed Meta to remove a fake interview of veteran journalist Karan Thapar from Facebook and also advised the social media platform to diligently deal with public complaints..Facebook had earlier turned down the request against removal of the posts in question, saying they did not violate its community guidelines. One of the fake interviews used Thapar’s picture to promote a fraudulent money-making scheme.In its order dated December 12, the GAC - constituted under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, considered the appeal filed through Dua Associates against Facebook’s refusal to turn down the posts.The GAC noted that promoting or encouraging get-rich quick schemes is a violation of community guidelines, as it constitutes fraud..The GAC noted that while Meta had earlier said that the posts were not in violation of its community guidelines, it later raised questions about the existence of the URL and resolution of the screenshots provided by the complainant.In this backdrop, it concluded that Meta's Grievance Officer knew about the specific URL links when it initially said the posts did not go against Facebook's community guidelines. “Therefore, META subsequently bringing out the absence of these has no basis,” it reasoned. The GAC also took into account the statement released by Thapar about the “malicious and defamatory content” being circulated in his name..Taking into account the Rule 3 (1) (b) (v) of the IT Rules, 2021, which prevents intermediaries like Facebook from hosting “....any misinformation or information which is patently false and untrue or misleading in nature”, the GAC issued following directions:The fake interview of Mr Karan Thapar as brought out by the appellant be removed forthwith.META is advised to deal with the complaints/appeals received after applying due diligence.The GAC asked Facebook’s Grievance Officer to “act promptly” on the directives and confirm the action taken. .Karan Thapar was represented by Dua Associates through its Partner Munawwar Naseem and Senior Associate Sanjna Dua..[Read Order]