New Delhi, Sep 24 The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Centre’s Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) to decide a plea by Students Federation of India (SFI) against disabling of its Instagram account.
Justice Amit Mahajan said he “expected” the GAC to decide SFI’s appeal within three weeks.
SFI’s official Instagram account, @SfiDelhi, was permanently disabled by Instagram on July 5, following which it sought a review and also raised a complaint with the platform’s grievance officer.
In its petition, SFI stated that after Meta Platforms’ grievance officer failed to resolve the issue, the organisation filed an appeal before the GAC on August 12.
SFI’s counsel said that the appeal has been pending beyond the statutory period of 30 days and urged the court to direct the GAC to decide it.
Centre’s counsel said the GAC would be advised to dispose of the appeal expeditiously, preferably within a period of three-four weeks.
SFI’s petition said when it attempted to access its account, Instagram displayed a notice stating that the account “may be associated with another account that has gone against our rules” and that this allegedly did not comply with Instagram’s “Community Standards on Account Integrity”.
It asserted that the account, which had approximately 13,000 followers when disabled, has acquired an established audience comprising students and members of the public over time.
SFI contended that its account was disabled without being provided an opportunity to be heard or having the violations specified.
(PTI News)
