New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS): The new rules for social media intermediaries announced by the Union government should be helpful to users in addressing many of the concern areas of grievance redressal and online safety, according to Nasscom and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

As per the new rules, the platforms will have to remove offending content within 36 hours after a government directive or a legal order.

"The government has emphasised that the new rules will not curb creativity and freedom of speech and expression of the citizens," Nasscom said in a statement on Friday, adding that it would urge the government to ensure that this is the design principle as these guidelines are implemented.

"From a user perspective, strengthening the grievance redress mechanisms, the option of voluntary self-verification of user accounts and the right to receive an explanatory notification on removal or disablement of access and to seek remedy against the action being taken by the intermediaries should be helpful," the IT industry body said.

The new rules mandate that the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, must establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving/resolving complaints from the users or victims.

Nasscom, however, added that "this will require the right implementation and should not become onerous for the social media platforms."

IAMAI said it has welcomed the much awaited Intermediary Guidelines 2021.

"The guidelines, focused primarily on consumer complaint, will help consumers of online curated content, social media users and online news and current affairs resolve their complaints in a process oriented manner," Subho Ray, President, IAMAI, said in a statement.