GAC appeal: when a social media platform ignores your complaint

The GAC is your second stop, not your first. You appeal to it only after the platform's own Grievance Officer has decided your case or failed to reply. It runs entirely online under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and costs nothing to use.

Short on time? Jump to the escalation ladder below to see exactly where your case stands and what step comes next.

Social media complaints in India move up a fixed set of rungs. Find the rung you are on, then climb to the next one.

1. Step 0 - Report inside the app. Use the platform's in-app report or flag button first. Note the date and any ticket or reference number it gives you.
2. Step 1 - Complain to the Grievance Officer. Every major platform must name an India Grievance Officer with an email and address. Send a written complaint there. The officer must acknowledge within 24 hours and decide within 15 days.
3. Step 2 - Appeal to the GAC. If the Grievance Officer rejects your complaint, or gives no reply, file an appeal at gac.gov.in. You have 30 days from the date you received the decision, or 30 days from when the reply was due but never came.
4. Step 3 - High Court, only if needed. If you remain unsatisfied, a writ petition in the High Court under Article 226 is an optional last resort. Most people never need this.

Do not skip Step 1. The GAC is an appeal forum. If you have not first complained to the platform's Grievance Officer, you have nothing to appeal yet.

The whole process happens at the official portal. Keep your platform complaint reference and the officer's reply ready before you start.

1. Go to gac.gov.in. This is the only official Grievance Appellate Committee portal. Do not pay any third party who claims to file for you.
2. Register and verify. Create a user account using your email and mobile number, then verify with the one-time password.
3. Start a new appeal. Pick the platform you are complaining against and the type of action, such as a refused takedown or a wrongful account suspension.
4. Describe what happened. Enter the date of your original complaint, the Grievance Officer's reference number, and what the officer decided or failed to do.
5. Upload your evidence. Attach the proof listed in the next section so the committee can see the full history.
6. Submit within the deadline. File inside the 30-day window. Save the appeal number the portal gives you, and track the status online.

You file from anywhere on a phone or computer. There is no fee and no need to travel.

The committee has a clear, limited job. Knowing its limits saves you from filing in the wrong place.

What the GAC can do:

• Review whether the platform handled your grievance properly under the IT Rules, 2021.
• Hear appeals against a Grievance Officer's decision on content or an account action.
• Direct the platform to act on a wrongly ignored or rejected complaint.
• Take up cases where the Grievance Officer simply went silent.

What the GAC cannot do:

• Handle financial fraud, money lost to scams, or cybercrime. Those go to the helpline 1930 or report cyber fraud on 1930.
• Act as your first complaint desk. You must use the platform Grievance Officer first.
• Replace a criminal complaint or a court case where one is genuinely needed.

If your real problem is a scam transaction or extortion, the GAC is the wrong door. Use the cybercrime route instead.

A strong appeal shows the committee the full paper trail. Gather these before you file.

• A copy of your original complaint to the platform Grievance Officer, with its date.
• The Grievance Officer's reply, or proof of the date the reply was due if none came.
• The platform's in-app report or ticket reference number from Step 0.
• Screenshots of the content, account action, or post you complained about, with visible URLs and dates.
• Your own identity proof, and proof of ownership if the appeal concerns your account or profile.

• Skipping the Grievance Officer. Filing at the GAC before complaining to the platform means there is no decision to appeal.
• Missing the 30-day window. The clock starts from the officer's decision, or from the date their reply was due.
• Using the GAC for fraud. Money and scam cases belong with cybercrime, not the GAC.
• No evidence. An appeal with no screenshots or reference numbers gives the committee nothing to review.
• Paying a fixer. The portal is free. Anyone charging to file your GAC appeal is misleading you.

For a parallel route on fake accounts, see how to report fake social media profiles in India and the fake social media profile takedown guide.

Yes. The GAC is an appeal stage. You must first send a written complaint to the platform's India Grievance Officer. Only after the officer rejects your complaint, or fails to reply, can you appeal to the GAC. Filing at the GAC without that first step leaves nothing to appeal.

You have 30 days. The window runs from the date you received the Grievance Officer's decision. If the officer never replied, the 30 days run from the date a reply was due. File inside this window, because a late appeal can be rejected on timing alone.

No. The GAC is a free, fully online mechanism at gac.gov.in. There is no government fee and no need to hire anyone. If someone offers to file your appeal for a charge, treat it as a warning sign and file it yourself on the official portal.

No. The GAC does not handle financial fraud or cybercrime. For money lost to a scam, extortion, or a fraudulent transaction, call the cybercrime helpline 1930 or report at cybercrime.gov.in. Use the deepfake blackmail recovery guide if you face image-based extortion.

A writ petition in the High Court under Article 226 is an optional last resort. It is a court process, so most people consult a lawyer first. In practice, the GAC resolves the large majority of platform complaints, so the High Court route is rarely needed.

Yes. The platform's duties come from the IT Rules, 2021. You can file an RTI to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, MeitY, asking about compliance and grievance-handling data. Draft one with the AI RTI drafter to frame your questions cleanly.

• Find your platform's Grievance Officer email and send a written complaint if you have not already.
• Save every screenshot, URL, ticket number, and date in one folder.
• If the officer has already decided or gone silent, open gac.gov.in and start your appeal.
• Mark your 30-day deadline on a calendar so you do not miss it.

• Information Technology Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code Rules, 2021.
• Grievance Appellate Committee portal, gac.gov.in.
• Cybercrime reporting, cybercrime.gov.in and helpline 1930.
• Constitution of India, Article 226, for writ jurisdiction of the High Court.

• How to report fake social media profiles in India
• Fake social media profile takedown in India
• Deepfake blackmail recovery guide
• Report cyber fraud on the 1930 helpline
• AI RTI drafter for a MeitY RTI
• The RTI Playbook