Online reputation management services in India: the IT Rules complaint clock, the GAC appeal and what defamation law lets you take down
What an ORM service in India can do for a business or a person, built on MeitY's 2026 FAQ on the IT Rules, the Grievance Appellate Committee portal and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, all read on 22 October 2026.
Published by AI Knows Us · Updated 22 October 2026
Online reputation management services in India do three different jobs. They manage reviews and replies on Google, marketplaces and social platforms. They work on what appears when somebody searches your name, by publishing and strengthening accurate pages. And they help remove content that is unlawful, using the platform's grievance process, the government's Grievance Appellate Committee, and, where needed, a lawyer and the courts. The Indian rules give that third job real deadlines, and a good ORM firm knows them. A firm that promises to delete honest criticism, or to make every negative result vanish, is selling something the law and the platforms do not offer.
The three jobs, and who should do each
| Job | What it covers | Who usually does it |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews and replies | Asking real customers for reviews, replying to every review, fixing the problems the reviews describe | Your own team with review software, or an ORM agency |
| Search results for your name | Your own site, profiles, interviews and accurate articles that rank for your name | An ORM or SEO agency, with PR support |
| Removal of unlawful content | Impersonation, morphed images, false statements, private data, content a court has ordered removed | You or a lawyer, using platform complaints, the GAC and the courts |
Our guide to the four kinds of reputation management company describes each kind of firm and what it can and cannot do. What follows is the part that is specific to India.
The IT Rules: how fast a platform must act on your complaint
Platforms that carry other people's content, such as social media sites, review sites and marketplaces, are treated as intermediaries under the Information Technology Act, 2000. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on 25 February 2021. Its FAQ document, read on 22 October 2026, says the Rules were amended on 28 October 2022, 6 April 2023 and 22 October 2025, and again by the Amendment Rules, 2026, notified on 10 February 2026 and in force from 20 February 2026. The FAQ gives these timelines, as amended:
| Rule | What it covers | Timeline now | Earlier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rule 3(2)(a)(i) | A user's grievance to the platform | Disposed of within 7 days | 15 days |
| Proviso to Rule 3(2)(a)(i) | Certain requests to remove content under Rule 3(1)(b), such as deceptive or impersonation content | Within 36 hours | 72 hours |
| Rule 3(2)(b) | Complaints about nudity, sexual acts, morphed content, impersonation and similar content | Removed or disabled within 2 hours | 24 hours |
| Rule 3(1)(d) | A court order, or a reasoned intimation from an authorised government officer | Within 3 hours | 36 hours |
The FAQ says it "is not a legal document" and that "For legal compliance, the notified Rules may be referred to." For a business, the practical point is simple: complain to the platform's grievance officer first, in writing, with the exact links and the reason the content breaks the rules, and keep a record of the date and time. The GAC portal links to a list of grievance officers for the large social media platforms. An ORM firm that does not start here is skipping the fastest free route you have.
If the platform says no: the Grievance Appellate Committee
If the grievance officer rejects your complaint, or does not reply, you can appeal online to the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC). The GAC portal, read on 22 October 2026, says any person aggrieved by a grievance officer's decision "may appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee within 30 days of the receipt of communication from the Grievance Officer", and that you should submit only after contacting the platform's grievance officer, or when there is no response within 30 days. It describes the GAC as "an online dispute resolution mechanism". On the day we read it, its counter showed 68,561 appeals received and 15,687 disposed of. You file it yourself with a mobile number; you do not need an agency to do it for you.
What defamation law lets you take down, and what it protects
Many ORM requests in India begin with "this review is defamatory". The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which replaced the Indian Penal Code, defines defamation in section 356(1) as making or publishing "any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person", except in the cases it lists. Those exceptions matter more than the definition for most businesses. The first says "It is not defamation to impute anything which is true concerning any person, if it be for the public good". Others protect opinions expressed "in good faith", including opinions on "the merits of any performance which its author has submitted to the judgment of the public".
So a false statement of fact, such as a claim that you were convicted of fraud when you were not, is the kind of content a lawyer can act on. An honest customer saying the service was slow is usually not. Whether a particular post crosses the line is a question for a lawyer, and a good ORM firm in India will say so and work with one, rather than send threatening notices on its own. For removals from Google search specifically, our page on what can and cannot be removed from search results sets out the routes.
What a sound ORM service in India includes
- An inventory first: every negative result, review and post, with its link, the platform, whether it is true, and the route that applies.
- A reply plan: who replies to reviews, in which language, and within what time, with templates that never reveal a customer's private details.
- Review requests from real customers only, sent after a completed job or delivery. Refuse any offer to post reviews on your behalf.
- Accurate pages you control: your site's about and leadership pages, complete profiles, and interviews or articles that rank for your name.
- Complaints filed properly for content that breaks the IT Rules, with dates recorded, and a GAC appeal where the platform refuses.
- A monthly report showing average rating, response time, the first page of results for your name, and the status of every complaint.
For a business selling online, our page on ecommerce reputation management covers the product reviews you host on your own site.
How ORM services are priced in India
ORM agencies usually charge a monthly retainer for review monitoring and replies, a project fee for a search results clean up, or a fee per removal attempt. Legal work is billed by the lawyer separately. Ask each firm to quote against the same inventory, with the work listed line by line and the hours, named people and exclusions shown. Be wary of any fee that is paid only "on removal" of content that is true; it rewards the firm for pressure that may not be lawful.
Questions about ORM services in India
Can an ORM company in India remove a negative Google review?
Only if the review breaks Google's policies or the law, for example a fake review, a review from a competitor or content that is unlawful. An honest bad review stays up. The firm can help you reply well and fix the cause.
What deadlines do the IT Rules set for a platform in India?
Under the IT Rules as amended in 2026, MeitY's FAQ says ordinary grievances must be disposed of within 7 days, certain impersonation and deceptive content within 36 hours, and morphed or intimate content within 2 hours of the complaint.
What can I do if the grievance officer rejects my complaint?
Appeal to the Grievance Appellate Committee online, within 30 days of the grievance officer's decision, or after 30 days with no reply. Keep copies of your original complaint and the platform's answer.
Is a bad review about my business defamation?
Not usually. Section 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita protects true statements made for the public good and opinions given in good faith. A false statement of fact can be different. Ask a lawyer before you send any notice.
Do I need an agency for ORM, or can my team do it?
A small business can run reviews and replies itself with a weekly routine. An agency helps when the problem sits in search results for your name, or when many platforms are involved at once.
Reputation in the answer an assistant gives
A customer in India may now ask ChatGPT or Gemini whether a company is reliable before they search Google. The reply sums up what the assistant has read: reviews, news, forum threads and the company's own pages. A complaint that was resolved, or a false post that was removed, can still shape that answer if the summary was built from older sources. AI Knows Us asks those questions about a business and shows which sources each assistant leans on, so the ORM work can be pointed at the pages that actually shape the answer.